Algeo and several seniors talk about the future of the anticipated new Senior Lounge.

Seniors and administration have been searching for a location for the new senior lounge, but campus-wide scavenging for usable spaces has not produced much result.

“We’ve been really struggling trying to find a place [for the senior lounge],” Student Council President Alex Freud said. “I met with Mr. Algeo in the summer and the beginning of this year and we’re still struggling.”

Freud said the senior interest for the lounge has “died down” since the beginning of the year.

“I’m kind of indifferent to the idea,” senior Liam Moran said. “Whenever I have free time I usually just go to the LC and do work.”

However, some students like senior Steven VanOmmeren still look forward for the idea of a lounge to become a reality.

“I think most importantly the senior lounge should be a place for seniors to be together,” VanOmmeren said. “I know that the seniors still really want to have their own space, and have even ‘taken over’ some areas like the Quiet Room and the physics room.”

Seniors Freud, Anthony Delvescovo, Kevin Smyth and Joe Bendinelli have led the initiative in finding a home for the lounge. They did some research on their own about potential empty spaces on campus and met with Head of the Upper School Mr. Algeo for approval.

“We’ve found a place that is small, and we’re investigating whether that would be feasible, then these guys will propose ways of basically moderating it – make sure it is used right,” Algeo said.

Students have looked into various places around campus, but many had problems that make them physically unsuitable. A few places considered were the Mother’s Club storage closet, O’Neill snack bar, rooms in Duffy, Alumni Hall, the Quiet Room, and the squash courts.

Algeo said the Mother’s Club storage closet could not be used due to lack of ventilation. Other locations are too small or already occupied, according to Freud.

“We’d have to kick someone out of a room at this point,” Freud said.

The previous year’s senior lounge was located in the basement of Sullivan, but it was not meant to be a permanent home for the lounge.

“The old senior lounge was a temporary fix for last year,” Algeo said. “The science department came to me last January saying they were expanding space, and would be using that as a classroom. The academics take precedence.”

A new senior lounge this time would need to be a space reserved for that purpose, Algeo said. The problem of finding a location for it should not be reoccurring yearly.

“I think it’s a little ironic that the middle schoolers have the brand new learning space which has a ping-pong table in it and tons of unused space,” VanOmmeren said, “while the seniors are in their last year at Malvern struggling to find any room for their own.”

Algeo and Freud have not lost hope yet. Algeo is pleased with the leadership of the senior class concerning the search of a lounge location. He said the previous senior class left a good precedent for how a senior class is able to run it themselves.

“Seniors last year did a good job. They took care of issues themselves, and seniors should take up ownership of the senior lounge again,” Algeo said.

Freud did note some difficulties in maintaining a senior lounge. “I think last year it got extremely messy,” he said. “At the end of the year it was gross, so we would really need to make sure it was clean.”

Freud is reaching out to all of the Malvern community. “Anyone who has any ideas please pass them my way,” he said. “We tried to think of everything, but we’ve been struggling and we’re running low on ideas. If anyone knows anywhere on campus where there is open space, either come to me or Mr. Algeo and please let us know.”