The school plans to renovate the second and third floors of Seaver starting this summer. The renovations will include a new wellness suite on the second floor, a new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) office, a multi-purpose room and a new welcome center.
The changes will replace the receptionist desk in Seaver, relocate the history department office to the second floor and relocate President Rick Commons and Head of School Laura Ross’ offices. Construction is set to begin in June, with the new facilities set to open by the winter of the following year. The renovations will be in collaboration with architect Andrea Keller, who renovated the Mudd Library this past year.
Director of Wellness Marci Reichert said the new wellness center will serve as a place for leisure and build community in times of need.
“We want to make [the wellness center] a space where people want to come to build relationships with students in a more fun and social way,” Reichert said. “Then they will naturally start to build a support system so that when they do have a moment where they need something, they’ve already built that relationship up. I see it as a community building place.”
Commons said the renovations will centralize mental health resources for students and give faculty operations more space.
“The project reflects our commitment to do everything we can to make the student experience healthier and give students access to resources to take care of themselves when they need it,” Commons said. “That’s the biggest impetus. It’ll help the history department and help create space for faculty and clerical services that currently are next door.”
Ross said the new wellness center will draw inspiration from the middle school campus.
“[The middle school] was able to move both of the middle school counselors’ offices next to each other so that people knew there was a place to go to,” Reichert said. “That feels like something we might want to model here.”
History Department Chair Celia Goedde said the renovations will benefit the history department and their space.
“The history department was consulted about how we wanted to configure the space where our office will be on the second floor, and we also got to work with the architect about designing the office space,” Goedde said. “We wanted to have plenty of shelf space for books and were happy that it could be accommodated.”
Reichert said the new wellness center will serve as part of the school’s broader movement toward prioritizing student wellness.
“With the loss of students that we experienced, I think it really pushed the school to realize that we need to prioritize our student wellness,” Reichert said. “This is part of just the bigger movement that the school is working towards, looking at how we can make things more fun and joyful for students.”
