Maintenance team completed new project at the end of October, in time for students and teachers to enjoy fall classes outdoors.
On a sunny afternoon in early November, Theology Teacher Dr. Rick Poce and his Comparative Religions class sat outside the Duffy Center on a brand-new stage, meditating.
Senior Mike Bradley is a member of Poce’s religion class. “The stage is great, it is a nice localized place for everyone to meet as well as an area for classes to convene,” Bradley said.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“The stage is great, it is a nice localized place for everyone to meet as well as an area for classes to convene,” Bradley said.[/perfectpullquote]
In late October, the maintenance department built a new stage outside the Duffy Arts Center. Director of Facilities Operations Mr. Jeff Kinney and Director of the Arts Ms. Jackie White worked in coordination to bring this idea into reality.
Malvern Prep has made it a priority this year to improve its campus, with new rocks and landscaping along with new signs around the ring road. The outdoor stage is just another addition to the list.
Kinney credits the idea of the new stage to White. “We were trying to collaborate on some space that would be nice for outdoor projects and presentations so we came up with the idea of building a stage outside. The stage sits in a high traffic, visible area,” Kinney said.
According to White, the stage was built to be “a place to hold class, play music, read poems, conduct science experiments, and gather and talk.”
Kinney and his maintenance team were able to build the new structure while at the same time keeping it cost effective. “It was under 1000 dollars in materials to build the stage, but then you have factor in the cost of labor, not that it’s free, but all of us maintenance guys did it,” Kinney said.
The stage was built to stay – but maybe not forever. “We dug down deep enough for footers, but did not pour the concrete, so it’s not a permanent fixture but it could stay there for a long period of time,” Kinney said. “It also could be taken out of there and then the dirt just filled back in where the footers were if there was the need to remove it.”
It was a relatively easy process for Kinney and his team. They were able to get the new stage up and running in just under two days. “It was not that difficult to construct if you are familiar with building these types of things,” Kinney said.
Senior Liam Close quickly took a liking to new stage on campus. “It looks pretty nice, the maintenance team did a good job on it,” Close said.
Students have already been able incorporate the stage into their everyday classes. Senior Adam Yablonski noted that his AP literature class went outside to read parts from Hamlet on the stage.
Kinney cited plans to improve the new stage and even incorporate technology into it.
“We are in the process of trying to figure out how to run power to the stage. The stage kind of sits on an island so it is very difficult to try to pull power from the buildings without doing any trenching and digging, but we’re looking into that,” Kinney said. “We want to have power so we can set up a Christmas Tree out there and so people can do small acoustical sets out on the stage like they did for open house.”
Kinney envisions even putting a jumbotron on the stage. “The plan is to have a permanent power source for the stage so we can have lighting and outdoor concerts. You could put a projector out there, you could show a movie,” Kinney said.
“At the same time we will talk with the IT people. It would be kind of cool to have our own little jumbotron. It would be cool to have things live streaming all the time so we’re looking into that too, it might be a pipe dream at this point, but we’re looking into it,” Kinney said.
White hopes for the stage to always be a venue to promote the courage to display or share with others. With regards to future opportunities for the stage, “It’s endless,” White said.
