Under Construction: The HUB

by: Bethany McMillon

Last spring, LCA revealed plans to renovate the Lower School library. The renderings made the children exclaim with delight: “I can’t wait to sit on the new couches with my friends! They look so soft!” said Barrett Maynard (’35), his 4-year-old body bouncing in the old wooden chair.

The announcement was met with enthusiasm from the youngest Preschool patrons to LCA grandparents, and if you’ve stepped foot onto the Lower School campus any time since July, you too could probably feel the excitement.

Beginning in November 2019, the library team worked closely with the facilities, development, and marketing teams to design a space to serve as a hub of learning and literacy, which is how the teams came up with the new name: The HUB. The new space will feature brighter lighting, raised ceilings, dynamic collaborative space, new technology, expanded reading collections, and an updated and vibrant color scheme — “It’s beautiful! Green is my favorite color!” said Vivi Hermes (’34), as she marveled at the flexible seating in the renderings— and outdoor light will now filter in by way of additional windows.

Bookshelves will line the walls and feature selections for students from Pre-K to Middle School. “Studying in the new space will be so comfortable,” Everley Ross (’29) told her mom, imagining herself curled up with a book in one of the new reading nooks.

In conjunction with the Spanish Immersion program, Spanish books will be incorporated into the books sorted by nonfiction topic and genre. Builtin storage will house the maker-space and technology tools, such as customdesigned mobile tables for the 3D printer and poster makers. All the furniture, the Promethean smart board (an interactive display screen), and several freestanding bookcases will be entirely mobile to maximize flexibility, including the use of virtual reality and a green screen; The HUB will be a transformed multipurpose learning space.

After a pandemic-related pause in planning and scheduling, in July 2021 the first sledgehammer was wielded to begin demolition. Down came the walls of the previously packed storage closets and outdated ceiling tiles were removed. The entrance was inset and relocated around the corner so that the doors can open without blocking the hallway. This fall, tiny learners sneak peaks around the corner of the soon-to-be HUB to check out the work of the construction crews as they install drywall, run new electric cables, and paint. Middle School students eagerly ask the library team for updates. Teachers check and double-check the timeline for our anticipated Grand Opening, in December.

In September, before the paint and wall-coverings were installed, the advancement team hosted a wall-signing for all South Campus students and Library Renovation Fund donors.

Soon, under the painted walls, the scrawled names of Preschool girls and boys will forever mix with the confident signatures and blessings of Lower and Middle School students and the Scriptures chosen and written carefully by families. In both English and Spanish, the LCA community penciled requests to God for his favor on the new space. “For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God” (Hebrews 3:4) and “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1) are among the verses written and prayed.

“With the merger of the Middle School Cre8 Lab and the Lower School library, we will now serve about seven hundred students,” says Ericka Hamilton, Director of Library and Tech Services. “At any particular moment during the day, you may find an eighth-grader using the 3D printer for a science project, a teacher printing a poster for a history lesson, a third-grader looking for the next book in the series she’s immersed in, and a class of Pre-K children listening to a book on our story dots.”

The HUB will continue to center on learning and literacy, with the addition of creativity and collaboration in every activity.

“We’re so looking forward to opening back up to our learning community,” says Bethany McMillon, Lower School librarian, as she moves from one class to the next to host a story-time and reading activity. “The kids missed the books like they missed their friends over the summer.”

Pictured above is the library space pre-renovation.

Bethany McMillon currently serves as the Lower School Librarian and previously taught the K-4 LCA Online Academy and 5th Grade Latin. She adores her husband, Jerry, and their growing-too-fast-son, William (’25). In addition to teaching, Bethany loves reading, writing, coffee, ice cream and cheering at football games until she’s hoarse. (Go Eagles! Sic ‘em Bears!)