GMVS plans news academic and student facilities; begins construction this spring

GMVS plans news academic and student facilities; begins construction this spring{mosimage}In the late Spring of 2006, Green Mountain Valley School will start construction of a 5,500-square-foot addition to its on-campus Farmhouse Building. While the focus of the facility will be a state-of-the-art resource center and library, it will also include individual and group study areas, and a two-story day student center.

Widely recognized as a premier ski academy, GMVS, now in its 33rd year, is looking to continue to improvement its already respected academic program. ‘The time has clearly come to provide the School’s students with a modern facility that will support the spirit of inquiry that underlies our high level of academic achievement,” says Alice Rogers, the school’s academic head.

The Center will include electronic databases providing greatly expanded research and information resources, document delivery systems and interlibrary loans. It will have a much larger and more current periodical collection, multiple study carrels, group study rooms with wireless access, reading areas and a “smart classroom.”

Adjacent to the resource center and study areas will be an extensive day student center. One third of GMVS’ students are day students. That number has doubled in the last few years as families move to the Waitsfield area to allow their children to attend the school while maintaining a link with home. The day student facilities will include separate bathrooms and showers for boys and girls, lockers for the storage of books, sports clothing and sports equipment and a separate ski storage and tuning room. It will also have a lounge and social area. Quiet study areas will be available in the adjacent Resource Center.

The GMVS community has decided that the new Center should reflect the school’s concern for the environment, the preservation of natural resources, the health of the local economy and the health and productivity of our students and faculty. As a result the Center will be built ‘green’, consistent with the standards developed by the United States Green Building Council.

‘The initial funding for this innovative facility, with a projected cost of $550,000, has been provided by a small group of trustees, parents and alumni,” said Headmaster Dave Gavett. “These supporters donated their expertise and more than $220,000 while the project was still in the planning stages. In particular, our alumni have stepped forward to raise funds for the second floor of the Center, which will be devoted to study and reading areas. … With the completion of the new academic and day student facility, we will have accomplished, in a very short period, three of our most important long-term capital goals.’

The architect for the project is Bast & Rood of Hinesburg, VT.

For further information, please visit: www.gmvs.org

-press release