Katherine Daniel ~ Editor-in-Chief
On Sept. 14-16, 2019, students got to move from the Annex into the new residence hall. Students, faculty, staff, and construction workers volunteered to help students move-out of the Annex and into their new dorms on Sept. 14 starting from 8:00-8:30 p.m. On Sunday, Sept. 15, many volunteers helped students move-in/out from 4:00-6:30 p.m, and on Monday, Sept. 16, move-in/move-out took place from 5:00-7:30 p.m.
Nomad Coffee Company and Dem Bunz were ready to serve all students and volunteers. Nomad Coffee Company owner, Josh Davies, said, “I think that the Residence Life of the University of Lynchburg has really accommodated the students while staying here at the Annex. We have been here almost every day while the students have been living here at the Annex and it has been a joy.”
Organizations from the university that were volunteers during the move-in/move-out process included: the Bonner Leader Program, Alpha Phi Omega, many different sororities and fraternities, Residence Life, and members of the Office of Community Involvement.
“Giving back and serving our fellow Lynchburg Hornets is what this is all about,” said Adam Rutherford, an Alpha Phi Omega member.
On Sept. 11, 2019, the Associate Dean of Students, Kristen Cooper, gave a tour of the new residence hall to different faculty and students.
Cooper said, “Most of the common furniture, office furniture, and classroom furniture is from Steelcase located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The bedroom furniture is from the Brill Company, which actually just happens to be located in Michigan as well.”
Cooper continued about the Brill Company, “The cool thing about Brill furniture, which is not who we usually use for furniture, [is that] they have been great to work with. Prior to them being green and cool, their entire factory in Michigan has always been heated by the burning of the scraps of their wood. In terms of sustainability, it is a pretty cool project.”
The rooms are suite style and the beds have the university logo on them. Each room has a bed, dressers, and desktop. Cooper explained more about the desktop, “This is the selling point. Not all students use desks, but some do so we did not want to completely eliminate them, but we were designing for the future too. It can be long table top. You can make it an L shape desk, and once they are done, they can roll it back together. In terms of floor space, you can really maximize the floor space. The space is available to be uniquely designed by the students.”
Anna-Catherine Kueng, a student living in the new residence hall, said, “I just like being back-on campus because I can walk everywhere I need to go now. I love the high ceilings in my room, the windowsills are nice because they are big, and the university logo on the bed railing is really cute.”
Each floor in the new residence hall is color coded. There is a red, green, yellow, and blue floor with matching color furniture.
There are sky boxes for the students to access in the building to watch the games from Shellenberger Field. Cooper said, “The outdoor furniture will not be here for awhile. It is going to be similar to Drysdale’s furniture, but the last thing I saw is that it is similar, but more red and grey based to bring in school colors from off the field.”
There is a court area, as well, with a catering kitchen. Cooper said, “There is a catering kitchen that the Catering Services and the Office of Residence Life bought access to for events and functions. It is a push through window, so if you are having an event with food they can put it out here.” There was a welcome home event on Monday, Sept. 16, 2019 in the court area.
The new residence hall also has many common areas, offices, and meeting spaces. “It is a balance of being a residence space and it also being a premier space for the campus in general,” said Cooper.
The new residence hall does not have a name yet. Cooper said, “We do not have a new name for the building yet. I think there may be some things in the works. They are looking for donors but the dedication is in October.” Oct. 25, 2019 at 11:30 a.m. is the dedication of the new residence hall.
Cooper continued about the dedication on Oct. 25th, “The dining hall will not be open during the dedication. Lunch will be served for the campus community on the track side and court yard side area, to be meant as a campus wide celebration. There will be formal remarks and the Board of Trustees will be on campus that weekend. They might hold some of their meetings in the new building.”
For more information about the new residence hall contact the Office of Residence Life at residencelife@lynchburg.edu.
