“It was the year of Holloway,” Casey Justice, director of transitions and community living, said. Over the summer Holloway Hall and several classrooms underwent renovations.
Most notably, in Holloway, all the bathrooms on the third floor were redone, according to Justice. Additional changes included repainting the walls white and adding an accent wall at the end of the hallway.
Justice said they were not able to complete the whole building over the summer, but plan to try and do a few bathrooms over winter break throughout the building and finish the renovations over the summer.
The bathrooms that saw renovations had replacement tiles installed, as well as countertops, vanities, larger stall doors, taller showers and doors to those showers rather than curtains, according to Justice.
One Student who lives on the third floor, sophomore Thomas Kelly, said he really likes the look of the new bathrooms.
Similarly, sophomore Elijah Tucker said he thought the showers and overall bathrooms were nice and a good size.
“I lived in Carle [last year], so it’s a big upgrade,” Tucker said. “It seems really nice, it’s one of the nicer bathrooms,” Kelly said. Sophomore Hannah Frost said she is also enjoying the updated bathrooms. She commented on how they are easy to clean and the floors look nice.
“I honestly love the renovations,” Frost said.
Classrooms underwent some changes, with the addition of new chairs, desks, and whiteboards instead of chalkboards to 62 allpurpose rooms, according to James Beeby, provost and vice president of academic affairs.
“I really thought it was important that we do upgrades in the classrooms as much as possible,” Beeby said.
Originally, the planning team for renovating the classrooms had planned on redoing between 35 and 45 classrooms, but with discounts from an abundance of material being purchased work they were able to accomplish 62 rooms across campus, Beeby said. The school was able to have $2.9 million approved by the USNH Board of Trustees to do this project.
As for HVAC in Morrison, it is not feasible for the foreseeable future.
“We don’t have any plans right now to put in a new HVAC, those are very expensive,” Beeby said. “But we are very aware of the issue.”
Beeby noted, that because of how heavily used the building is they are looking at ways to deliver climate control and the more resources they can acquire over time, the more they will implement.
Frost additionally commented on the new chairs in the classrooms.
“They definitely roll a lot easier than last year,” Frost said. Junior Shealyn Teeter thinks the new chairs and desks are more accommodating than the prior ones. While she mainly takes her classes in huntress in classrooms with tables rather than single chairs she said, “Even the singleseaters were pretty roomy.” She noted while she may not be able to put a notebook and her laptop on the desk part, it still offers a lot of room.
Future renovations for classrooms are in the works for over winter break. Because of supply chain issues and items in backorder, some areas were not completely finished. New carpet be added to some classrooms and new seating and library book scanners will be added to the Mason Library.
The Equinox reported in February 2022 KSC had plans to “reconceptualize” Carle Hall.
A meeting was held on Thursday, Sept. 31 to hear out four different firms’ plans for the lobby of Carle.
The selection of the design firm that the school will entrust with its vision for Carle is to be selected in the coming weeks, according Justice.
“We really just want to open the space,” Justice said. “Make it [Carle] brighter, so that when you walk in it feels very inviting and homey.”
No dorm rooms in Carle will be renovated during the project, Justice noted.
She said they want to help Carle be on the same level as other dorms around campus like Huntress and the Living and Learning Commons.
Justice’s current hope is that construction will begin once the Spring semester ends, she said.
Tim Bruns can be contacted at
tbruns@kscequinox.com
