photo courtesy of www.alma.edu

This is the projected look of Wright Hall, which will combine how the original hall looked with modern amenities.

Newly designed Wright Hall will incorporate tradition with modern needs

ALEXA BOYCE

Staff Writer

A groundbreaking ceremony for the new Wright Hall is set for March 31, 2004.

“Part of the College’s mission is that we have to be stewards of the world around us,” Nick Piccolo, Vice President of Student Life said. “The hall is an educational tool, and it expresses the College’s mission.”

“Environmental consciousness” could be a few words used to describe the proposed features of the new residence hall expected for completion around Winter Term 2005.

Wright Hall will feature, among other things, solar panels, low-flow shower-heads and a geothermal heat pump.

Another important aspect of the new hall will be its suite-style apartment, independent living space. Phase I of Wright Hall has 60 beds.

The hall will consist of connected single and double rooms with their own private baths, kitchens and lounge areas. This would give an upper-class student more freedom while still in college.

“Housing hasn’t changed in a long time,” Piccolo said. “The College is looking for lifestyle options that are more in keeping with this generation and future generations of students.”

The Board of Trustees approved the plan at the last meeting in February because the required $2 million had been raised to go further. The College is now at the half-way point to reaching the projected $4 million cost.

More than half of the total cost is coming from private sources, and the College will continue to broaden fundraising efforts. The quiet phase in the fundraising campaign has just ended, and the College will now become more public with fundraising.

The College will begin using the mail and phone calls to get the message out, and proposals to corporations are also being made. The contacting of alumni who lived in the old Wright Hall is also going to play an important part in the fundraising process.

Wright Hall will be built on the site of the first Wright Hall in between the Alumni House and South Complex, and it will look similar in appearance. The old Wright Hall named after College founder Ammi W. Wright served as a residence from 1901-1976, and was an immense structure that was a main focal point of the campus.

Pam Eldridge (70), Director of Annual Giving, and Sally Bowen (62), Grant Coordinator, were around for the final era of Wright Hall’s existence.

“Wright Hall was the only hall on campus named for one of Alma’s founding benefactors,” Eldridge said. “By losing it, we have nothing on campus named for him, and without him there wouldn’t have been an Alma College.”

Bowen added that a new residence hall would help with student recruitment.

Jacob Acton, Mitchell Hall Director also agreed on the importance of the College having a new hall.

“One of the biggest draws to Alma is the attractiveness of its campus,” he said, “and a new hall will help with that.”

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