Page 12 - mcdanielfreepress2011-12

Financial Side of McDaniel: Stadium Renovations CHARLES MULLIN The bottom floor is dedicated [Q sports staff like the Co-News Editor, officials, visiting team and coaches. The second floor Co-Commentary Editor will contain hospitality rooms as well as cateting, the president's box and rooms for radio, television and press. The top floor will contain an overhang that will The renovations on Bair Stadium-expected to finish by protect film crews during each game. Any money left the 2012 football season-s-will be a proud accomplish- over in the budget will go towards expanding the Gill ment for nor just the faculty involved, hut the alumni of Gym locker rooms. McDaniel College as well. The funding for the projected In order to fund the project, the committee laid out 9.5 million dollar budget was the first capital project pro- an effective plan to ask alumni for gifts. Because of the vided completely by gifts and donations. recent recession, the renovations had to be paid for only For many years, Bait Stadium just didn't fit with the through philanthropic donations. campus aesthetically, The Board of Trustees (along with The stadium committee interviewed countless alum- the Institutional Advancement Division) made a decision ni who were football players, lacrosse, etc. They also (Photo Credit: Ethan Seidel) six }'ears ago to start a Stadium Committee to oversee all pursued leadership groups like team captains, eventu- aspects of the future renovations. The decision, many be- This is the final design fo~ t~e ne~1 r~n~v~~~~: ally focusing on around seven networking groups. Two lieved, would complete the campus equation by building a popular ones, for example, were the mid-'sOs and '60s on Bcir Stadium. The bulldtng wil e stadium that would meet students' expectations. Aoor structure, providing more seats For fans athletes. Finally, committee members made personal Ken Gill became the chair of the committee along with contact with each and approached the situation prag- and press. Director of Special Projects Lee Primm as faculty advisor, matically, often receiving generous gifts in return. Vice President of Economics and Business Ethan Seidel, "It was wonderful. The responses were very positive. and a few trustee members. As part of a more compre_ start in January. . '. the spec drawings, There were a wide variety of personalities and attitudes, hensive objective, the committee looked on the future of giving us an opportunity to bring back alumni who felt After the stadium commJttee.re~~\eshase where numer- the stadium renovations as a recruiting tool for future stu- alienated," reponed Primm. the renovatio~s will enter. the ~Id!a;e Pbids on the project. dents ous construction comparues will. to build a bidding strat- Alumni participation is usually very low compared to "I was asked to head up this project and had previously "It usually ta~es a ,~ouple of week~ake sure they bid high many other colleges, so the countless gifts responsible played football for Western Maryland College from 1957 for the stadium renovations can be considered a huge egy," said Seidel. They have to u h so as not to lose to 1960," said Ken Gill. "1 really valued my college educa- achievement. However there is always a better way to enough that they will profit and low eno g tion. 1 felt like this was a wonderful way to say thank you look at things the job at the same time ." LAR ran into numerous to McDaniel. We previously had the worst stadium com- Although the ren~vat.Jons ~or ?ural ehanges, the stadium "I think there is a miSinterpretation of the generos- plex despite our popular tailgating. It was hurring recruit- ity of alumni," said Seider. "There is a lot of it but it delays d.ue to last minute .archJtec' me (unless "Snowmagge- ing because it was not a very attractive building." isn't widespread over a large percentage. There is a low project IS expected to finish on tl ere dedicated to the d~- The first few years progressed slowly as the committee participation only in the Annual Fund which is the Op- don" recurs) because many years a~fect Meo's and Women s extensively dis<:ussed the changes that would be made and signs. The construction will only . n .....i hr how much money would be used. It was very important to erating Budget. But when it comes to big projects, the Lacrosse. tadiurn con"tructoO 8 alumni are always generous." renovate the stadium in a way that would be similar to the Many might fcar tne neW ul ting experience, but they campus'currentarchitecrure. Some of the largest gifts from alumni ranged from impede the McDaniel C;~: ~~i~~ng will still alloW f: : :~ 1.5 to two million dollars. Because many current McDaniel athletes said they can rest assured that th u tents all along the outer i committee the stadium is waiting loved the charge down the hill from Gill Gym, the com- ceive Currently detailed architectural specifications. to re- pull up their cars and set P Previ- the mittee decided to keep the locker rooms in Gill and just ously, contractors were hired to look at the floor plans is the tradition. .' "1 b lieve it will be one of the build team rooms in the stadium bottom floor. A new ac- and confirm that seven months as an estimated time for Of the stadium, Gill s~Judm'des~gns. It is rewarding to get cess road will also be built to ease transportation. most state-of-the-art stadi construction was reasonable. The committee expects to the job done." Freshman recognized by International Dyslexia Association much sleep will get her through the next day, and . always open to sug- probably met some people who will turn out to She always comes prepared, IS . bili ty define her. gestions, and she doesn't let her disa be her friends for life. And, so far, she thinks McDaniel is a pretty good fit. Caitlyn is very actualized,". Megan s~tes'f the clas s - Caitlyn's character shines outsld~ 0service. She Academically, the first year of college is often a struggle -for-most due to the added rigor of room as well as through b~r co~mum~nteered at a classes and freedom to do work or simply avoid has gone on several mission tr~pS, vol and fun - c it. Beyond the new academic challenges that col- horse farm for. kids with specIal nee?s, ot of Best lege poses for all students, Caitlyn deals with an tioned at her high school as the PreSIde rO- extra hurdle: dyslexia. Buddies,.which she explains is "a progra. m t~:ti~[el_ Megan Hen.ry, Caitlyn's academic coach in Stu- motes foendship for people with and WlthO dent Academic Support Services, or SASS, ex- lec~al and developmental disabilities." all to plains that dyslexia OCcurs because of problems Cattlyn says that "small class sizes that allow Y " with decoding and encoding, which ate phonetic interact closely with fellow students and professors identifications that interfere with reading fluency. drew her to McDaniel during her application pro- cess last year. "Let's see that you or I might see the number 21," Megan says. "She might only see the num- For Caitlyn, dyslexia does not limit her ability to ber 12, or JUSt the one or the two, and that's JUSt shine as a student, a volunteer, or a role model. Kar- the way the mind sees it." en Hamilton, Acting Director of SASS, feds ~~t Caitlyn's ability to overcome her disability exempli- Caitlyn refuses to let dyslexia keep her from achieving, though. In fact, through her hard work fies the nature of all students in the SASS program. and dedication to academics, Caitlyn has been K~ren says, "For all students at S~SS, [their di~- recognized by the Maryland branch of the In- ability] is a small part of their makeup, but it doesn t define them." ternational Dyslexia Association. While Caitlyn AMBER SLATER was among eight total srudents to receive honors Caitlyn is an example to the enore McDaniel Co-News Editor community. From her achievements and award from from the association, she was the sale recipient Caitlyn McSorley, a freshman, has spent her first of the Finish line scholarship, a$1,OOO award. the International Dyslexia Association, it is appar- semester figuri ng out how to be a college student. To her coach Megan, the award was no sur- ent that perseverance leads to success, hard work has She has learned which foods to avoid in Glar, how prise. "She has an e.'Xtreme amount of maturity. benefits, and a disability should never be viewed as a disadvantage.