Maplebrook breaks ground for new dining hall

AMENIA — On Monday, Oct. 10, the Maplebrook School community came together for the groundbreaking of a new dining hall on the school campus.

Approximately 125 people consisting of board members, parents, faculty, staff, students and friends in the community were in attendance on Columbus Day to share in the celebration.

The program began with a welcome from senior Zachary Berger, followed by the invocation from Father Dan Sheehan, academic dean.

Other messages of congratulations were shared by Mark Metzger, chair of the Board of Trustees; Roger A. Fazzone, president of the Maplebrook School Foundation; Chris Meyer of Meyer Contracting; George T. Whalen Jr., chair of the Maplebrook School Foundation; William R. Steinhaus, Dutchess County Executive and Maplebrook board member; and Donna M. Konkolics, Head of School/CEO.

Also in attendance was George Whitmann, the community liaison representing New York State Assemblyman Marc Molinaro.

Upon conclusion of the remarks, all of the speakers gathered with gold shovels and hard hats to make the first dig of the construction project, and then enjoyed a reception provided by Culinary Management Services while students celebrated with an ice cream social.

In February 2011, the school announced the Forging the Future capital campaign that will take place over the next five years with a goal to raise $5.6 million for different phases of implementation.

Phase one, which will cost approximately $1.5 million, includes a 4,000-square-foot dining hall that utilizes solar panels and other sustainable and renewable building materials.

The building will also include an Internet café and recreation center of equal size. These features will occupy the entire ground level of the building.

“Where Thalheimer Hall has become the center of academic life, the new dining hall and Internet café will be the center of social boarding life at Maplebrook,” Fazzone said.

The current dining hall was built in 1967 to seat 56 students.  In 1999, the school added space to accommodate its increased enrollment, but the space has been less than adequate when the entire campus celebrates on Parents Weekend, holidays or at special ceremonies.

The new building has been made possible with a leadership gift of $250,000 from the Millbrook Tribute Garden in Millbrook, along with donations from the board of trustees, foundation directors, faculty and staff, current parents and friends.  Just over $1 million in pledges and revenue have been secured for construction.

The design by Loedy Architecture & Construction, also in Millbrook, will enable the building to fit seamlessly in with the rest of the campus architecture and will seat more than 160 people.

The dining hall, combined with the Internet café, will promote great interactivity between students and faculty, as well as provide space for a variety of school functions and social gatherings.

Construction is hoped to conclude by May 2012, just in time for Parents Weekend activities in June.

“Thousands of youth have come from diverse geographic locations, families, cultures and backgrounds to call the Maplebrook campus their home for these formative years,” Steinhaus said. “As we all know, it isn’t until many years from now that the students will fully appreciate the gift you have given them  — the gift of heartfelt caring that has prepared them for their life’s adventure. Let me congratulate each of you who made this day possible. You are all angels — our community heroes who make life better for not only this generation, but for the many generations that will follow.”

Maplebrook School is an international boarding day school for students with learning challenges and/or ADHD. Teaching doesn’t just happen in the classroom; the coaching, mentoring, dining and time in the dormitories are equally important to a student’s success. Subsequent phases of the Forging the Future capital campaign include the building of an Olympic-like indoor pool, renovating dorms to foster individual attention for students, repurposing select facilities to serve as a fine arts and music center and undertaking an environmental sciences center and laboratory, in addition to raising funds for scholarship.

Lori Hale is the director of development and advancement at the Maplebrook School.

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