Ashbury College - Ashburian Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

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on the front lawn for two years. Above these classrooms nine new student dormi- tories are being built.-lt has not yet been decided how these dormitories will be divided between the two Senior School houses. Across the hall from these second floor dormitories, showers, toilets and a master's suite and study are being built. Finding space for common rooms has always been a problem at Ashbury. The staff members and students of the Junior School did an excellent job of building a common room in an old attic above the Chemistry Laboratory, but the room is small and the noise level must be kept down while classes are being held below. For many Junior School students this defeats the purpose of having a common room at all. The three Senior School common rooms, tintermediate, senior and pre- feetsj are located in the basement under the dining hall and front entrance way. With the possible exception of the prefects' common room they are small and in a general state of disrepair at present. Fortunately the need for new common rooms was recognized during the planning stage, the result being the addition of new common rooms for both Junior and Senior students. These rooms are being built on the basement level beneath the new classrooms and will be easily accessible to both the Senior and Junior School buildings. The construction of a wood workshop is another welcome addition to the School. This is not a new idea for Ashbury in that the School had a workshop for student use a number of years ago. That shop has since been restricted to staff use in order that they may keep ahead of the School's maintenance problems. The second major addition is taking place in the area between the kitchen and the Physics Laboratory. A Biology Laboratory is being constructed in this area on the second story level with extended locker rooms beneath. This will bring to three the number of laboratories at Ashbury and will be a fantastic asset to Physics students who become irritated when someone's Biology experi- ment crawls over their intricately engineered series of electrodes. This has been a common occurrence recently, because the Physics Laboratory has been dou- bling as a Biology Laborotory. The completion of this project will by no means be the end of construction and renovation at Ashbury. Students have visions of indoor swimming and tennis facilities or a new gymnasium. I am sure the staff are looking forward to new construction as well. I doubt that there is one staff member who would not like a private parking place in a new, heated, indoor parking garage. The obvious point is that construction at Ashbury can be an indefinite process if priorities are not established. I think it is safe to say that all of the construction carried out this year is high on the list of priorities of both staff and students of Ashbury. P. W. WILSON 23

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BUSINESS AS USUAL! . . . AS USUAL? The automatic bell has just rung one o'clock and for some silly reason l'm standing in line about to enter the dining-hall. Tired and tense tthey're renovating Ashbury nowl, I foolishly lean against a wall that hasn't existed for at least a half hour. Others less observant than I openly chuckle at my mishap while I notice smoke listlessly rising from an open pipe end. - Quick, sound the alarm, the school is on fire! Premature, am I? Simply steam for the coils that used to sit there, is that it? With our nakedness and doorless entrances I do suppose we can use all the hot air W. N. Construction can provide. Here we go now. Perhaps a letter or two as I pass the duty prefect, but alas none at all. I do believe my friends think the construction has driven us from 362 Mariposa to some other address. We day boys sit in one of the wings, student priorities and that sort of thing. Quick right and I reach my seat far back at the very extremes of the dining room. A month ago there were four oak tables, like the one I eat on, in this particular area. Unfortunately construction companies, like time, wait for no men or in this case oak tables. Now three wooden musketeers are left to fight off the invasion of power-saws and crowbars while we diners sit helplessly trapped. Every meal carries the apprehension that it might be our last, unless of course we're willing to buy hot-dogs and chips down in the tuck-shop. Behind me, as my dry cleaning bill will testify sprawls a huge, dirty, and brown tarp used for covering the hole that replaced one of the four walls. Thank hammer and sickle its not winter or our food would be perpetually deep frozen . . . even after they've served it to us. Excuse my inconsideration, I have forgotten to mention that the Headmaster just said grace. But with no disrespect towards the church I think we couldn't have heard the familiar words over the other loud noises Cthey're renovating Ashbury nowl. Here comes Mr. Marlandg I'm sure he's got something to say about the construction. So you found it very muddy coming into school now, did you, sir? Yes the ruts were unusually deep, but you can't expect trucks carry- ing tons of material to be as light on their feet as Volkswagens, Toyotas, or red Datsuns. Pass the potatoes? Certainly. No that's not peels, it's dust. It ritually lands on the food every lunchtime. Comes off the brown tarp behind you. 'Tm very sorry to bring this up while you are eating but I must confess that some of us missed part of the equation you read out in math class today. Yes I know that is what I get for sitting at the back but it was actually the guys up front that asked me to ask you. Yes, paper and pen ready for action. Sinx -1- Cosx : 1-2 cement nails . . . what! Oh you were thinking about the masonry work. were you? It is quite hypnotic. Why just yesterday I went so far as to support Labour in an economics discussion. I'll let you be for now, you're welcome. This morning an extraordinary event took place. Instead of our usual teacher, we were lectured to by a visitor who may be full time next year. Now this in itself is not so special. However, I'm convinced that his decision about coming here will rest to some extent on what he hears about the building pro- ject. I am sure he was impressed by our academic standards, after all we answered every question we heard him ask. But if he gets wind of some kind of vicious rumor such as the construction will not be finished until next year at Christmas time, I'm afraid he will take job offers from Edmonton or Katmandu, Nepal instead. On the other hand if he hears the vicious truth that by September the contractors are to be gone, I'm sure he'll jump right on the bandwagon. After all this school is going up and up and out and down and wherever the architects want it to go. Pass the milk? Of course! Don't worry, that's not a crust forming but a piece of plaster that fell from the ceiling. Yes, the jackhammers must have dislodged it. That kind of thing is probably the best reason for changing things at Ash- bury. The building is simply much too old. Why it's so decrepit and senile it can no longer keep properly functioning and, as you've seen from the plaster, 25