VES Campus Improvements: Serving Our School's Changing Needs

STRATEGIC CHOICE #5: CAMPUS IMPROVEMENTS

We are developing and repurposing space to serve our school’s changing needs.

Enhancements to campus spaces are essential to our vision of being the best small co-ed boarding school in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions. Each year, we are selectively developing and repurposing space to:

• Increase opportunities for faculty-student collaboration

• Provide more flexible and effective spaces for teaching and learning

• Enhance the student life experience

• Provide excellent athletic and arts facilities for our students.

Numerous upgrades have come to fruition over this school year. The pictures speak for themselves.

Students enjoy relaxing together in The Basement.

The Basement

This winter, we unveiled the eagerly awaited Basement renovation. The open concept design includes a state-of-theart kitchen, café, performance stage, foosball, pool and pingpong tables, TVs and ample seating, making it a great space for students to relax, have fun and build lifelong friendships. This space is the Friday night hangout when our junior RAs host activities, a test kitchen for student groups to make foods from around the world, and a great spot for students to get to know prospective Bishops during open house events.

The Basement offers space for students to connect, play games and have DJ night parties. The space is also used as a classroom, offers a kitchen and island to cook and enjoy meals, and has a stage and projection screen for presentations and small-venue performances.

In Hopkins Writing Center, students come to study and meet with Humanities faculty.

Hopkins Writing Center

We continue to upgrade faculty offices and academic meeting spaces to provide opportunities for student and faculty collaboration and to support teaching and learning best practices. English classrooms in Jett and the Hopkins Writing Center—with office space for Humanities teachers, study and collaborative space for students, and breakout areas for classroom instruction— received facelifts this fall.

Rock Lee Court hosts basketball, volleyball and wrestling matches, as well as regional robotics tournaments.

Philip L. Van Every Athletic Center

At the halftime of our varsity boys basketball opening game of the season, VES officially dedicated the renovated Van Every Field House side courts and beautiful center playing surface. The center court is named the Robert I. Lee, Jr. ’45 Court after former VES teacher, coach, advisor and student, who gave 31 years of unwavering service to the school and was an impassioned supporter of VES students.

VES volleyball and basketball teams enjoy the benefits of the new center court, and our lacrosse and soccer teams take advantage of the side courts in inclement weather. The center court fabrication prevents injuries by providing “bounce back,” or shock resistance, to lessen fatigue on players’ knees and ankles, enhances performance, increases ball responsiveness, and offers a clean, sophisticated look.

Van Every also now boasts a full set of banners recognizing individual and team conference and state champions across every sport.

Buck Langhorne Field at Meador Park

With new baseball coach Roger Keeling igniting enthusiasm for the program, the current team has restored the scoreboard and refurbished the field, and will sport new uniforms this season, all thanks to the financial support from a dedicated group of former VES baseball players, parents and friends and advisees of former Senior Master and Latin teacher Max Meador.

The baseball field was given by Lady Astor at the outset of WWII in memory of her brother, William Henry “Buck” Langhorne, and Meador Park was given in honor of Max Meador at his retirement in the spring of 2002 by the Sauer family—Janet and Bradford ’70 and Bradford Sauer Jr. ’99.

Barksdale Memorial Gymnasium

Barksdale Gymnasium has been returned to its original glory and serves as our primary wrestling venue and space for after-school dance instruction.

After years as a black-box theater space, Barksdale Gym has been restored to its athletic function with a new look, honoring the style and design of the 1920s. The gym was originally a gift, made in 1919, by Ethel du Pont Barksdale in memory of her late husband, Hamilton M. Barksdale. Together, they were the school’s largest benefactors from its founding to the early years of WWII.

Led by head coach Dr. Zach Wakefield, who is rebuilding a robust wrestling program, Barksdale Gym came back into action this winter when our student-athletes hit the mats, and opponents pinned on their backs once again saw the sign hanging above them: “IF YOU CAN READ THIS, YOU’RE IN TROUBLE.”

This year in the VIC tournament, juniors Nana Kofi Obeng- Mensah and Neguens Ovincy placed 1 st in their weight classes, and junior Reilly Holleran placed 2 nd in his weight class. Ovincy took 7 th this year at the VISAA State Championship.

The cosmetic restoration has been made possible through the generosity of several donors: former wrestler Will Cook ’08, Henry Clarke ’03, Sally Brown, the great-granddaughter of Hamilton Barksdale, Susan and Doug Lane, and David and Melissa Simmons, in honor of their son, Spencer Simmons ’19.

Spencer Simmons '19 earned the 2018 VIC Championship in the 170 lb. weight class.

Spencer came to VES as a sophomore and was one of only four wrestlers during a rebuilding year for VES’s program, in which he ended the season with a .500 record. In his junior year, Spencer was named a team captain for the season, leading a 13-man team. He posted an 11-8 record and won the VIC Conference Championship in his 170 lb. weight class. Beginning his senior year, Spencer started out strong and was picked to win the conference title at 182 lbs. He posted a 6-2 record and earned a third-place finish at the Fork Union Invitational Tournament in early December, but a mid-season injury sidelined him from completing the rest of the season. Spencer continued to help coach and manage the team for the duration of the winter, setting a positive example for the younger generation of VES wrestlers.