After a period of construction and renovation around campus, Bancroft Hall is now open to students while the Snyder Center approaches its grand opening in the Winter term.
Bancroft Hall, an upperclassmen girls dorm, was under renovation for the 2016-2017 academic year. The dorm itself is unique given that it has its own full kitchen, a study space, and that the house counselors do not live in the dorm but rather in adjunct housing. Bancroft consists of all singles and one double.
Justice Robinson ’18 said, “Many people, including myself, describe it as very hotel-like. We started referring to the common room as the lobby. The dorm also has these awesome hydration stations on every floor, so that was a nice architectural addition.” In addition to some of the new physical features of the dorm, students who are currently living in Bancroft have noticed the social and emotional benefits of living in a practically new dorm.
“The fact that the dorm is new allows us as Banc-ers to set the standards for what we want our dorm to represent and how we want our dorm to involve. The house counselors and proctors have been really great about establishing the framework for an inclusive community that I’ve always wanted,” explains Junah Jang ’20.
After nearly a year of construction, the Snyder Center is also approaching completion in preparation for its grand opening in the winter.
Leon Modeste, Head of Athletics, explains that Snyder center in addition to the Borden Gym will create a more manageable schedule for athletes.
“Our goal athletically is to have everyone done by dinner…So right now and for years the basketball kids, the squash kids, and the swimmers are getting out of here 8:30 and it’s late and it disrupts their dinner. It also means the trainers are getting out of here at 8:30,” said Modeste.
“We’ll take intramurals for basketball and put them in the new facility… so then these folks could start and hour earlier and we could alleviate some of the problems on the basketball court,” he continued.
Track runner Abhinav Tadikonda ’20 is especially excited for the new track facility in the Snyder center because he says the location of last year’s winter indoor track was not suitable for sports events.
“The indoor track is a very small space, so a lot of the events overlapped… For example the 50 meter dash overlapped the 150 meter races so you couldn’t do more than a couple events at a time which made it pretty inconvenient because it extended the overall time of the meet itself,” said Tadikonda.
Currently expected to have a soft opening after Thanksgiving break and a final opening in February, the Snyder Center will house 12 new squash courts, a 200 meter track, and three glass multipurpose rooms.
