The Mysteries of Beaver: The Senior Lounge

MADDY KIEFER ‘08

If you have ever had an art class in McElwain Studio, you’ve probably noticed a plaque next to a closed door (near the middle-school side staircase) that reads “SENIOR LOUNGE: Generously supported by the Parents of the Class of 1993.” You might have also wondered why it is no longer the senior lounge, and why there isn’t a new one to replace it. Unfortunately, there is no concrete answer for the second question. I can, however, answer the first.



As the plaque reads, this lounge was created in ’93 as a place where seniors could relax, talk, and, hypothetically, study. The windows on the door are currently painted over, but there is a centimeter-wide gap in one of the panes through which you can still peer. The room is now merely a storage area, but, according to Mr. Gould ‘95, it was comfortable and sizable (at least for a class of 26, like Gould’s grade) when it was in use. Geoff Merrill ’96 remembers, “Beaver was the first school I went to where I had the option of sleeping between classes.” With a number of couches, ping-pong tables and Nerf basketball hoops, it was Merrill’s class’ “haven.”

INTERESTING SIDENOTE: Back before any of this, what is now the Nancy Lincoln Gallery functioned as a student lounge.

Unfortunately for Beaver’s seniors, the lounge did not last for long. According to Mr. McKinney ’90, the lounge was closed in the late ‘90s (McKinney began teaching a few years prior). Apparently, some construction was being done on the school and the workers discovered that there was a support beam missing from the room and the floor had begun collapsing onto the faculty room, which lies below. After examining the space carefully and getting the Fire Marshall involved, the school decided that it was too unsafe to remain in use.

Not long after, the space below the old athletic office (which is now the Lost & Found) became the new senior lounge. Complete with mini-fridge, another ping-pong table and a Nintendo videogame system, it was just as popular as the previous lounge. There was a small problem, however. It could be locked from the inside and was in a pretty secluded area of the school, providing an ideal setting for some inappropriate activities. After a few unfortunate incidents, it was finally closed a few years ago.

Since this time, Beaver has been senior lounge-less, something that I am sure many seniors are upset about, including myself. Yes, the Foyer is an adequate social hangout, and sure, the library has some comfortable chairs, but these locations lack mini-fridges and videogames. We would even be content with just a ping-pong table and a couch or two. Various students and members of Student Council have tried, but the efforts don’t seem to be going anywhere. “We're told that as seniors we're supposed to be the leaders of the school, but it feels like, at every step of the way, when we try to be leaders we're shot in the knee,” laments Micah Telegen ’08. All School President Peter Wilmot may have summed up the lack of progress best: when asked about the current situation, he said simply, “there is no senior lounge situation.”