A state-of-the-art facility named in honor of former president Dr. Royce Money and his wife, Pam
A blogger with an iPhone can only do so much, which is why, every so often, we ask a professional photographer to capture the state of the Royce and Pam Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center as it speeds toward completion at the end of August. Here are some pictures taken by Abilene photographer Steve Buttman:
Dates have been set: The Royce and Pam Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center will be open to Abilene Christian University students on Sept. 2, the first Friday of classes for the fall semester.
Here’s what the summer looks like heading toward that momentous event:
More details on both grand openings and the subsequent RecFest will be coming soon.
Crews this week began installing the maple basketball court inside the newly renovated single gym on the facility's northeast corner.
It’s not the outside but the inside that counts.
That’s true at least for the Royce and Pam Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center, where progress on the interior has made great strides in recent weeks, while crews slowly but surely come closer to completing brick installation on the facility’s exterior walls.
Photos and details after the jump.
Brian Devost took over as executive director of the Royce and Pam Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center last week — one of the newest and most high-profile jobs on the Abilene Christian University campus, given the center’s expected prominence on campus, physically and recreationally.
So far, so good.
“It’s everything I thought it would be and more,” Devost said, talking in the sparse confines of his temporary office in the Hunter Welcome Center. “We’re like nomads, going around to different offices, trying to find places to meet.”
Devost toured the center when he came to campus for an interview, but a couple of months had passed, so one of his first things to do was take another look at the 116,000-square-foot facility he will oversee.
“My first impression was the students are going to just be wowed when they see the finished product,” he said. “It’s going to be state-of-the-art everything. It’ll be amazing. It’s exciting to be a part of this.”
Of course, the three months or so between now and the facility’s grand opening will require more work than simply the occasional tour. Devost said he has plenty to do.
“There’s a lot of little things,” he said. “We ned to be contacting a lot of people, making sure we’re connecting the dots. … Typically, the most difficult (thing) is the staffing, but Joel [Swedlund] and [Dr.] Kerri [Hart] have already done that. The training, developing a culture, so to speak, of what we’re expecting service-wise, how the students will interact with each other.”
Training of the five dozen students who will work in the center begins Aug. 15, two weeks before the start of classes.
“That’s a whole schedule unto itself,” he said, “but it doesn’t just stop there. The thing will be amazing.”
In the meantime, Devost will be working with Hart, director of programming, Swedlund, director of facility operations, and other voices on campus to determine everything from the type of furniture to place on the outdoor patio to what kind of policies and procedures will govern the students, faculty and staff working out in the building.
On a broader scale, Devost sees his job as developing a better sense of the whole-wellness philosophy ACU wants to encourage through the Money Center.
And it all needs to happen in 85 days or so.
Framing hung in the SRWC lobby gives a glimpse of the curves and circles students will see when they first enter the facility.
The projected date for sealing in the Royce and Pam Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center has come and gone with brick and windows still needing to be installed, but crews believe they remain on pace to hand over the keys to Abilene Christian University around Aug. 15, two weeks before the start of classes.
In several places, including the Medical and Counseling Care Center, work is all but complete, with flooring the only step left. Others, such as the aquatic center, are awaiting crews to return from a brief foray spent renovating the athletics and Exercise Science and Health offices. Here’s what’s happening and what’s about to happen:
Brian Devost, executive director of the Royce and Pam Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center, began work yesterday in his temporary office on the second floor of the Hunter Welcome Center. Meanwhile, crews working on the center are nearly finished applying brick to the building’s exterior. We’ll have more on both these developments in the coming days.