Galloway Forward: Student Life in New Building
As the new building is coming along, there continues to be speculation surrounding it. Many students are eager to know more about the campus and the environment it will include. Old traditions, a more connected community, comfort, and more opportunities are exciting things to expect. The new Head of School and returning Galloway Alum, Mr. Farokhi, plans to bring back old Galloway traditions such as Founders Day, a walk around Chastain Park for Mr. Galloway, and the Buddies Program to build connections and culture. I recently met with Ann Fountain (Upper Learning Assistant Principal) and they were able to give me an extensive amount of information and insight about what to expect in the new building.
One of the main things that a lot of students and faculty are really excited for is the reconnection with the community. Since UL has moved to the Northside campus, the community has felt the separation from other community members. With the new building, all grade levels will be on the same campus again. Shared community time for all three levels, cross level activities, and the Buddies Program are ideas that the “Reunification Committee" and faculty have in mind to reconnect K-12 culture. The Buddies Program is a program where EL students pair up with UL students to build relationships, confidence, and learn. Additional traditions include Founders Day and graduation in the courtyard. Ultimately, community plays a major role at The Galloway School, and big strides are being made to strengthen and reconnect the culture and community on campus.
Peace and comfort are things that teachers recognize and that students want and need to support their learning. In the new building, there will be plenty of hangout, study, and active spaces for UL students to spend their time. For ML students, there will still be some sort of structure and amount of freedom given to be around campus, but UL students will enjoy just as much freedom as they do now. The library is a place that is anticipated to be a very popular area for most students to spend a lot of their free time. Just like the library at the Northside campus, there will be a quiet space for students to study or just to relax in peace. There will be comfortable seating, bar height seating in front of windows, and even little cubbies in the walls. Librarian Lindsey O’Sullivan says she hopes for a nice and cozy book store feeling. Additional places that will be added to the new building will be an outdoor terrace for students and even faculty to hangout, a senior lounge with the traditional senior mural, a new playground for EL, and a courtyard that will be bigger than ever. A very exciting addition to the campus will be our very own amphitheater for town hall meetings and theater classes.
Furthermore, the lunch room will be a huge upgrade, as it will bring a larger kitchen for the Sage Dining team and more dining space for students. UL and ML will share a separate dining space from EL. This will ensure that UL and ML students can hopefully get their food faster, and not have to wait on EL students. One possibility is everyone eating lunch at the same time, but that has yet to be confirmed. It is understood that eating experiences and dining have been a roller coaster in past years, but administration is working extremely hard to ensure that a crammed dining space and food quality isn’t a problem within the new building.
The designing and construction of the new building has taken a lot of effort and patience, the building process has been in effect for a lot longer than we realize, and a large amount of progress has already been made. With this link to the Galloway Forward Campaign website, the Galloway community will be able to explore the new design and plan for the new campus. A lot of students, teachers, staff, and faculty are very excited about this new milestone for Galloway and can’t wait to move in during October of upcoming school year!