Page 17 - Priorities #32 2005-November

By Devin Coats, Class of 2001
On my first visit to the Priory since my graduation four years ago, I expected to gaze across those lovely green playing fields and reminisce about graduation day. Processing off the stage, walking over the field, happily stepping onto the... parking lot!?
Wait a minute! We processed happily onto outdoor basketball courts, where we hugged our teachers and families and each other! Now it’s
a parking lot? And... what happened to the real parking lot next to Founders Hall? Since when did it turn into a giant hole?
Sophomore Molly Dellheim explained in her article for the school newspaper that the demolition I observed is part of the preliminary work for the Trinity Project. Here is an excerpt.
“If the school receives its building permits, construction should begin in spring 2006. The first stage of the Trinity Project is the construction of the new Performing Arts Center. The Performing Arts Center will be located next to Founders Hall. The building will include an auditorium, main lobby and gallery (for displaying student fine arts), classrooms for choir, drama and orchestra, and a shop to store sets.
“Once the Performing Arts Center is built, the second stage of the Trinity Project can occur. The library will move back to its original home in the current Assembly Hall . . . With the library cleared out of the space under the cafeteria, the third and final stage of the Trinity Project will be set in motion—the current library will be transformed into the first ever student center.”
The Priory student body has tripled in size since I enrolled a decade ago, and I expected that the school would change, as it always has, to accommodate its students, their needs, and their abilities. I admit I was unsure about whether or not
this new Priory would feel like the same school I attended. As I was walking around, visiting with the people who had prepared me so well for my university years, I heard many stories that helped me make up my mind.
Molly points out in her article that facilities issues aren’t exactly new. Citing the Priory’s “humble beginnings” in 1957, she tells students that “it is difficult for people who see the Priory today to imagine it with a student body of 14 and a campus that consisted of one building.” The open space in front was the ‘gym.’
Year Two at the Priory brought with it a facilities crisis. Although the school could not accommodate them, twenty-six boarding students were accepted with the expectation of a new dormitory—but the dormitory plan fell through. Where were the students--all boys, of course--to sleep? At the last minute, a solution presented itself- -a $35 army barracks. According to the story, the health department objected because the barracks only had a small window and could not possibly have enough air for the 20 students. To which complaint an intrepid monk—Father Leopold— answered that there would be plenty of air in the barracks—because it was not actually fitted out with doors!
The beginnings of the athletics program
had a similar do-it-yourself feel. The first soccer field—created in 1958—was cleared of rocks by the members of the monastic community themselves. Students helped build the tennis and basketball courts. Soccer quickly became so popular that by 1965 the Priory already needed a second field. Today, the athletic program is growing and improving just as rapidly as it was in those first few years. Until recently, the weight room available in the gym was “just about as big as a bedroom,” said Mr. Stogner, and could only be used in a very limited way. With some careful reshuffling, the weight room is now accessible to more students and sports teams. The school also has a training room where Athletic Trainer Ellen Payne and her
(Continued on page 18)
Musician’s Views
Facilities Shape The Priory Experience— And Always Have
Every decade had its trials—and laughs.
Campaign Update
17