“Knock knock.”

“Who’s there? Oh wait, you need to go to the other door. Sorry.”

While the students were away from The Academy during the summer months, construction crews came to campus and renovated and re-routed the entrance to East Foyer. Instead of entering into the narrow, dark stairwell that leads to the many classrooms of East, students will now be able to come directly into the vast, welcoming atmosphere of East Foyer.

As diverse as the student population itself, the reactions to this new entrance are varied. Therese Kondash ’17 states that “the new door is very nice and fancy, yet I am slightly annoyed that the keycode at the stairwell door is gone.” She believes that the overall idea of renovating East Foyer and the library is a great initiative, but she has conflicted views about the relocation of the new door.

Another senior, Anna Waterkotte ’17, states that the door “looks great. It will definitely help the flow of traffic during the changing of classes since all the students will not have to go through the small stairwell door.” She does see the pathway as too narrow for the large population of students and finds it “slightly inconvenient to walk all the back to the old stairwell if [she] is going to Mrs. Adkins’ room.” One additional belief that Anna does have is to ensure that the history of Saint Ursula Academy is not lost in the construction.

Well, students of The Academy, do not fear. The refurbished door is only one small part of the $6 million Capital Campaign project called “Open the Doors to SUA” to renovate certain parts of campus, including the relocation of the art and design programs as well as a complete makeover of the theater. This new door will allow students to enter into a student lounge that will be connected to the library. In fact, the narrow sidewalk that leads to this new entrance will be expanded by next school year in order to accommodate the foot traffic (added bonus – no one will destroy the beautiful flowers that Mrs. Ragland has planted alongside it!).