By Cathlyna Theriot
Staff Writer
Gmail: [email protected]
With the start of the fall semester at Hutchinson Community College, contractors are rushing to finish the construction at Lockman Hall.
The construction has bled into the school year from over the summer months and beyond, but the question is, “Why is there construction happening at Lockman Hall?”
Well, to know more one has to go back a few months to when the construction actually began.
The initial construction began with the remodeling of the bathrooms in Lockman Hall during last academic year. However, as these were being remodeled, contractors noticed an issue with the plumbing and sewage system under the school. The plumbing was completely redone from underneath Lockman, all the way out to Plum St.
Don Rose, the Director of Facilities, mentioned the plumbing was old, rotten, and wasn’t functioning at all due to the corrosion in the pipes, causing a buildup of water and poor circulation throughout the building.
Once all the pipes were fixed up, the bathrooms were finally able to be finished, Rose said, “The way the restrooms were remodeled 30 years ago was not a long-term fix.”
The remodeling that was done decades before was just a temporary fix to make the restrooms “pretty”.
Once the restrooms were being worked on again, they did a completeremodel, tearing out floors, walls, and even the electrical in the restrooms for a total makeover. The remodeling of these bathrooms was finished and are a new look for the interior of Lockman Hall.
The finalization of the restrooms is what has led to the construction occurring outside of Lockman Hall. The construction is being done on the East side of the building, where workers are doing “tuckpointing”. Rose said.
“At Lockman and Fine Arts, tuckpointing and sealing of the bricks is being done to the cracked bricks and mortar,” Rose said.
As weather and time have worn on the building, the old structure must be renewed.
The construction can be seen during the school day when students are walking from and to class, and the workers are drilling and replacing the bricks that line the exterior of Lockman. Though with this construction happening during school hours, one would think that maybe this drilling and tearing away of the bricks would cause disruptions in the building itself, affecting classes and students’ learning.
Michelle McClendon, a Speech Assistant Professor at HutchCC who teaches in Lockman, the topic of classroom interruptions was mentioned.
“I went into my class and they started drilling, but interestingly, the noise that was caused was more like a learning experience for my class,” McClendon said. This response may not be expected, because construction and loud noise would usually be seen as a distraction, but for her, it was a way to teach her students about interference with communication.