Next year’s Commons renovations will completely change the locations where students can eat. New dining arrangements have been made to replace Commons and the Ryley Room for next year while those areas are under construction. Several locations in and around George Washington Hall will be transformed into dining areas, in addition to the Smith Rink being changed into the main dining hall for the 15-month period of construction of Commons. The Underwood Room will transform into the new Ryley Room, complete with a stage, lighting and a sound system. It will accommodate dances, performances and weekend activities. These areas in and around GW hall will be supplied by a custom food service van parked on Chapel Avenue, adjacent to the Elson Art Center, equipped with a pizza oven, a grill, a fryer and a refrigeration system. The Underwood Room will be open for breakfast and dinner hours and will serve items similar to what the Ryley Room serves now. Breakfast meals will include cereal, fruit, and bagels, while the evening menu will include pizza, hamburgers, fries, and chicken fingers. In order to receive breakfast meals in the new Ryley Room, a Phillips Academy ID will be required while dinner foods must be paid in cash. Many students feel as if the intermediate period utilizing the Smith Hockey Rink and Underwood will not help the situation. Asa Harrington ’09 said, “They say they can’t use a real kitchen, so the food can’t get better [during renovation]. A better use of the money would be to improve the quality of the current food, instead of remolding the structure of Commons.” Maura Mulroy ’07 said, “Underwood will probably serve as a sufficient temporary hang-out spot, but really, nothing can replace Ryley.” Other proposals for a new meal format during renovation included making in-dorm breakfast available and providing catered food service in the Underwood Room. However, these ideas were not practical because of unrealistic cost-effectiveness. If these alternatives were implemented, the academy would need to erect kitchens in each location to comply with public health codes. There will be two eating hubs on opposite sides of the campus and instigated some concern in the student body. Andrew Lee ’10 noted, “The distance between the two locations could cause a problem. However, I respect that the administration is [trying] to ease us into the transition of eating in a hockey rink.” However, other students see the polycentrism as an advantage. Dillon Traverse ’09 said, “The new dining layout is more convenient for me because living in Foxcroft, I am extremely close to next year’s Ryley Room. Also, if I’m in a rush, I can grab food faster now that there are going to be two separate locations on campus that serve food instead of the format before where Ryley and Commons were at the same location.” In addition, Student Council has applied for an Abbot Grant to refurbish the mail room of GW to make it more inviting and aesthetically pleasing. The proposal includes installing three curved couches around the perimeter of the room along with functional tables. The committee, consisting of Maura Mulroy ’07, Carolyn Brown ’09, and Danny Silk ’07, hopes that the new revitalized lounge area in GW will attract a more diverse crowd and also encourage studying. Danny Silk ’07 said, “We thought that the GW mail room area needed some decorations anyways and with Ryley not being there next year, we thought that it was a good idea to [put forth a proposal] anyway to serve a dual purpose. Right now, GW is a good place to sit but we think it can be more functional and also more welcoming. Hopefully that will change the atmosphere of the room especially with tables.”
