Trending
ELKINS -- Davis & Elkins College broke ground for its $25 million Freshman Village project on the school's campus this week.
Officials said the project, which is Phase II of a Campus Master Plan that was approved by the D&E Board of Trustees in 2019, will greatly benefit incoming students as a new residence hall for freshmen.
Phase I of the Master Plan was completed in 2020 with $7.2 million worth of upgrades done to the Myles Center for the Arts and Myles Plaza.
The Freshman Village will encompass the hillside where Roxanna Booth Hall and Gribble Hall are located and its key feature will be the new 100-bed, suite-style dormitory.
"I was a student here 50 years ago when the last dormitory was built," Mark Barber, chairman of the Davis & Elkins College Board of Trustees, said during the groundbreaking ceremony Thursday evening. "So in my mind, in the entire 119-year history of this college, this is one of the most exciting days that we have had... We are raising a brand-new dormitory for our freshman students and the campus community. I couldn't be more thrilled and I know my fellow board members are, too."
A name for the new dormitory has yet to be chosen. It will sit behind the aforementioned dorms, which will also receive upgrades as part of the project, where the Augusta Blacksmith Pavillion was formerly located.
"What a wonderful day for us!" D&E President Chris Wood said during the groundbreaking ceremony. "I have never seen a better-looking hillside than the one right behind me, because I know what is coming, and it means so much.
"We are creating a home right here and we are creating it for our students…I can't wait to walk the students coming to visit us next year up here and say 'welcome home.' The importance for the future of Davis & Elkins College with this new residence hall and freshman building can not be understated."
The new freshman dorm will offer many amenities other dorms at the college currently don't offer. Junior Nick Allen, a political science major from Cheyenne, Wyoming, explained to the group gathered at the ceremony just what the new facility will mean to the college.
"I want to say on behalf of all the students, thank you guys for making a new freshman dorm a possibility," said Allen. "It was something I didn't know I would get to see and I'm truly honored to be a part of it.
"I give a lot of tours here. One of the big things is how to market Darby Hall and Booth as first-year students living environments.Where at other schools, there might be amenities that aren't offered in those current buildings.
"One of the big things was the quality of the two buildings, no air conditioning and no laundry facilities. All of those things are going to be incorporated in this new building and it's really going to make everyone's job easier.
"The admissions team is going to be flooded with people signing on right then and there," Allen said. "I'm so excited to see this new building come up."
Allen is vice president of the D&E Student Government Association and is a member of the Senator swim team.
He is a legacy and is also a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon. His older brother Coalton is a graduate of the college.
A capital campaign billed as "Creating Home: It Takes a Village" has been ongoing and the college has received a $3.4 million gift from an anonymous donor as part of it. Longtime Davis & Elkins donor Joyce Allen recently gave the campaign a gift of $1 million.
"When we gather here again in a little over a year to dedicate this hall, we will do it debt free," said Wood. "Debt free, because we don't want to spend money on debt services, we want to spend money on student services. And we will do it debt free because of the alumni, and the friends of this college are right now helping us to fulfill that $25 million capital campaign.
"We are 70 yards down the field now and we are going to score a touchdown before too long," Wood said.