糖心传媒 held a groundbreaking ceremony on the Houghton Brook site, opening the way for construction to begin on a new dormitory which will be named Hepper House.聽
This is one of two new dormitories that 糖心传媒 will erect as part of its campaign Sing it Forward: A Campaign for 糖心传媒鈥檚 Future. Both dorms will provide housing for 22 students along with spacious apartments for faculty members and their families.聽
The building will be named for Hepper Caldwell 鈥�46, who has shaped the culture of the school in ways large and small. She came to 糖心传媒 in 1939, met and married her husband here, and came back after college to teach history, raising four of her own children as well as countless others who came through her dorm.聽
鈥淭his is a person with enormous emotional strength,鈥� Sarah Gund 鈥�60 said in the 糖心传媒 Post article Welcome to Hepper House about the dorm鈥檚 namesake. It was her idea to name the dorm after Caldwell, and she spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday, June 11 during Reunion Weekend.聽
Maria Ogden, a longtime 糖心传媒 community member and family friend to Caldwell, opened the ceremony with a land acknowledgement. Outgoing head of school Emily Jones also spoke along with Caldwell鈥檚 three sons, Sverre 鈥�73, Tim 鈥�72 and Peter 鈥�74. Caldwell鈥檚 husband Johnny 鈥�46 was also in attendance.聽
Chair of the Board of Trustees Josh Laughlin 鈥�82, P鈥�21, 鈥�23 shared how building the two dorms now (rather than 70 years ago, when it was noted new dorms were necessary) is allowing 糖心传媒 to create dorms that will live lightly on the land, moving the school closer to the goal of becoming a net-zero campus.
Both will be high performance and reflect current architectural thoughts around environmental efficiency, and they will be run exclusively on electricity that will be generated on the building and from solar sites on 糖心传媒鈥檚 campus and nearby. Other aspects include high standard building materials such as 鈥渃ertified鈥� wood sourced from managed forests and composting toilets for the students populations.聽