Last Thursday, December 8, we broke ground for the VWC/YMCA Partnership
Facility. The 6,000-square-foot building, scheduled for completion in
May 2017, will be located at the entrance to the College’s Wilson
Arboretum.
As a college growing and reaching out to the community
for new synergistic partnerships, we are especially honored to
collaborate with the YMCA on this important facility. Our goal is,
together, to enrich the services we provide to our community and this
campus, while affording us a facility to encourage innovative thinking
and the development of new programs.
I was joined in the
ceremonial shoveling by William H. “Billy” George, President and CEO of
the YMCA of South Hampton Roads and a Virginia Wesleyan College Trustee,
David L. Kaufman, Chair of the VWC Board of Trustees, G. Dudley Ware,
Board Chair of the YMCA of South Hampton Roads, and Chris Brandt,
Executive Vice President of Hourigan Construction.
The facility
will contain three classrooms that open into a large multi-purpose room,
four offices, a reception area, kitchen, and an adjacent outdoor
amphitheater with stage. The building will be used by the College during
the academic year and by YMCA Camp Red Feather during the summer
months.
With 300 acres of trees, trails, and the beautiful Lake
Taylor, Virginia Wesleyan College provides the perfect setting for
partnership with the YMCA. The campus has been home to Camp Red Feather
since 2005, and each summer welcomes nearly 2,000 campers ages five to
17 to play, discover and grow at VWC. 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—a
50-foot structure designed for climbing and teambuilding exercises.
Following
the groundbreaking ceremony, 17 students from Dr. Doug Kennedy's
"Management of Recreation and Leisure Services" course presented a check
for $5,500 to Mr. George and the Director of Development for Camp
Silver Beach, Rhonda Marsh. Students raised the funds in support of the
College's "Send a Kid To Camp" fund, which helps send economically
disadvantaged children to Camp Silver Beach. The fund has raised more
than $70,000 since its inception in 2003.
Mr. George acknowledged
Dr. Kennedy for his instrumental role in bringing the two organizations
together more than a decade ago. Congratulations to Professor Kennedy
and his students on this outstanding achievement.
Conceptually
designed by VMDO Architects and Woodard Design, the architects of
record, and constructed by Hourigan Construction, the new joint-use
facility will complement the Virginia Wesleyan’s forthcoming Greer
Environmental Sciences Center, scheduled for completion in fall 2017.
Photos from the groundbreaking and check presentation can be viewed on the VWC Flickr page at: https://flic.kr/s/aHskMDY9E7
