Ancilla College officials recently announced plans to build a second residence hall on the Donaldson campus. Vice President of Admissions Eric Wignall says work on it will start as soon as the new student life center is finished.
“It’s going to be part coffee shop, part cafeteria, part kitchen facility, etc. The cool thing about the kitchen facility, the back of the kitchen, the back of the house, as they say, is a large kitchen prep area, and yes, we’re going to start offering culinary classes at some point.”
Wignall adds the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ are very supportive of the school’s growth. He says there’s plenty of room for additional buildings, parking and other amenities on the other side of 9B Road. Plans already call for the addition of sand volleyball courts for students.
As for the new residence hall, Wignall says it will be a straight-line copy of the existing building, which opened in August.
“The first one is an L shape where you have the lobby up front then it turns the corner and it’s a one long hallway. The second one extends straight to the north, and then the next one will be a flipped L shape from the first one. So the idea is to have three of these when we’re all said and done. That’s 300 students living on campus right near here. It’s just a fantastic opportunity for us.”
Wignall says the new residence hall will be done in time for the start of the fall semester in 2016. The first one is filled beyond capacity, and enrollment at Ancilla has increased considerably as a result of available on campus housing.
