Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Nota Bene: New YMCA Facility

March 15, 2016

With 300 acres of trees, trails and the beautiful Lake Taylor, Virginia Wesleyan College provides the perfect setting for partnership with the YMCA. This morning I am pleased to share the approval of plans for a new joint-use YMCA facility here on our campus.

Scheduled for completion by May 2017, the 6,000-square-foot facility will be nestled in front of the arboretum near the start of the trail that leads to Lake Taylor. It will contain three classrooms that open into a large multi-purpose room, four offices, a reception area, kitchen, and an adjacent 240-seat outdoor amphitheater with stage. View the
blueprint.

The facility, funded by private donors, will be used during the academic year by the College and during the summer months for
YMCA Camp Red Feather.

Camp Red Feather has taken place here on campus for about a decade, the result of a long-time partnership between VWC and the YMCA of South Hampton Roads. The relationship has led to various recreational additions on campus, including a treehouse and dock near Lake Taylor and the 2011 installation of the Alpine Tower—the 50-foot structure located off Smith Drive designed for climbing and team-building exercises.

The new facility will complement the College’s forthcoming Greer Environmental Sciences Center, with construction by Hourigan Construction. A groundbreaking will take place in fall 2016.