Ribbon Cutting for the Fine Arts Building

We had the ribbon cutting for the Fine Arts building during Homecoming Week in September. I was voluntold to be in charge, which was challenging for me, but I did my best and I had lots of help (committee members taking over the food, people helping with setup, and the construction company pitching in with several things including balloonists).

It turned out quite well, though of course there were definitely some things that could have (should have?) been better. I'm most proud that we started on time and the people who needed to be there were there. And even with the last-minute hiccup of needing to omit my co-chair from the program (written and spoken), it was okay.

The pictures from our photographer, London, turned out well. Special shout-out to Suz, whose idea it was to use confetti poppers during the cutting itself.

I only took a few pictures that night, as I was mostly trying to get things set up correctly and we also had a hired photographer. But I did get this, a picture of members of our original committee from 2022-2023, when we were brand new.

Me, JoAnna, Sarah, Laura, and Darci

One of the post-event tasks I assigned myself was to print out photos of the donors and participants in the event and send most of them a handwritten thank you note along with one or more photos of themselves. I decided to include myself. This came in the mail over the weekend:

It's a little mind-boggling that we've gone from dreaming of building an auditorium to finishing it in less than 4 years. JoAnna and Steve probably did the bulk of the work, and $2M+ in grants from The Fritz B. Burns Foundation really made it possible, but I'm glad to have made my small contribution.

The addition is beautiful, with an 850-seat auditorium, large choir room and orchestra room, several practice rooms, and additional classrooms for art and other subjects upstairs. It's connected to the original building on the south end.