High Point University: A Year in Review
By Liz Reichart, A&E Editor //
The realization that the 2013-14 academic year is coming to a close seems incredulous in nature. It was just yesterday this campus was crawling with a new class of dewy-eyed freshmen looking for Wilson School of Commerce after accidentally wandering into Wilson residence hall (a personal experience).
Graduation is upon us, and it is time to say farewell to the seniors who have graced this campus for four years. Their impact, along with that of the rest of the student body, was especially visible in these past two semesters.
The 2013-14 year has been one of name changes. The Bistro in U-Ville became the Silver Line Diner. The University Center became the Wanek Center. That abandoned forest area behind the University Center parking lot became a slightly more developed dirt area where a Center for Student Success will soon be placed. Ground was broken on the Athletic Performance Center adjacent to Vert Stadium, and now there stands a hollow shell of a building to be completed upon student arrival in the fall of 2014.
The combined efforts represent over $29 million donated; $16 million for the Center for Student Success, $10 million for the Wanek Center, and $3 million committed by the Panther’s Club to the Athletic Performance Center for NCAA Division I teams.
Also announced this year was the eventual arrival of a state-of-the-art Health Sciences and Pharmacy facility, in order to accommodate new proposed programs in physical therapy, physician assistant studies and pharmacy. The plans approximate cost sits at roughly $60 million presently.
HPU also saw the arrival of many new programs- for instance, the implementation of freshman success coaches for incoming students instead of assigning each freshman to a faculty adviser like in previous years.
The guest speakers only got better, with names like leadership expert John Maxwell, Dove body image lecturer Stacey Nadeau, renowned composer Charles Strouse, and for commencement, retired four-star general Colin Powell. Not to mention concerts by acclaimed recording artists J. Cole and Lupe Fiasco.
However, some things never change: the band playing in the Café continued to disturb some eardrums from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekdays; the university’s general education requirements continued to make registration for seniors who just want to graduate in four years somewhat complicated; the honors program continued to be too complicated for even the honors students to figure out; the men at the kiosks were overly friendly but a little judgmental when you took five chocolate muffins and enough water to survive the apocalypse; and the geese that reside by the Slane fountains were in the mood to bite someone’s head off.
Though seniors may come and go, and buildings may be put up overnight here at HPU, it is still our Alma Mater to call home again the fall.
Actually, who are we kidding? The aforementioned alterations were just changes made in only one year’s time. If we’re honest, five to 10 years from now, we may not even recognize this place.