Newly renovated classrooms and spaces on campus are getting mixed feedback from students.
The Gold Star Memorial Building and Sarkeys Law Center have been repurposed for new academic spaces.
The Gold Star was used for law school classes, but since their move downtown in December 2014, it has been empty.
The building now houses the Wimberly School of Religion, the School of Theater and the Honors Program. Sarkeys is being used as a space for math and sciences now that Dawson-Loeffler Science and Mathematics Center is being renovated for new chemistry labs.
Keeley Brewer, biomedical science sophomore, has two classes in Sarkeys.
“I love the building and it allows us to have larger classes, which opens the floor for more ideas, questions and discussions,” Brewer said. “I’d like to add that Sarkeys still says ‘law center’ on it, and all of us science majors laugh at it knowing it won’t be changed any time soon.”
Erica Herman, cellular and molecular biology sophomore, has classes in Sarkeys and the Gold Star.
“I enjoy Sarkeys very much. It’s nice to have table space so my notebook and worksheets and everything else aren’t stacked on top of each other. Also the technology actually works there,” Herman said. “I had never been inside Gold Star and it seems nice, but the only issue is more with the building and not just the classroom. There was a dead mouse on the ground when I went in.”
The Gold Star was built in 1953 and originally was meant to house the Wimberly School of Religion, but this is the first time the school has occupied the building.
Religion classes have the south wing of the first floor and the religion professors’ offices are on the first and second floors in the west wing.
Renovations on Gold Star began in 2013, but the classrooms are not finished.
“I like the classrooms just fine, except that they are not finished,” said Hannah Lampi, religion senior. “We are having classes in unfinished rooms, it’s kind of messy, and the white boards haven’t even been installed.”
The School of Theater hosted a ribbon cutting Aug. 23 to open their new spaces in the Gold Star Memorial Building to the campus. The spaces include classrooms, practice space and offices. The school originally was located in the Kirkpatrick Fine Arts Center, which still is being occupied by music classes, the costume lab and rehearsal space.
Acting students are happy with the new space.
“I love having Acting I in Gold Star because we have so much space to perform and move around in while continuing to grow in our skills,” said Shelby McCarver, acting freshman.
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