by Emily Wemhoff

photos by Celia O’Flaherty

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The Windmoor Center and Chapel of St. Joseph will be open for students at the end of January, according to president Nan Bone. After 300 days of construction, thousands of bricks and dozens of board meetings, the building  will finally be seen inside for the first time by alumnae, students and their families Jan. 18 at an open house. Bishop Finn will dedicate the Chapel of St. Joseph on Feb 2.

According to Bone, the Windmoor Center will be completed over Christmas Break, but                 administration wants to wait to hold the open house until all the furniture has arrived for the inside.

The building, which began construction March 23, can hold up to four classrooms plus the chapel, all of which have the latest social media technology. Two of the classrooms have the capacity for audio and video conferencing.

“We are opening up the four walls of the classroom to make global classrooms,” Bone said. “[Students] can see and hear who they are visiting with anywhere in the world.”

Each classroom will have a teacher work station that has a digital document camera and everything a teacher needs to control all of the technology at their fingertips, according to Bone.  Document cameras are the latest electronic imaging devices which can be used to display real three dimensional objects, such as  pages from a book or artwork. Bone said this will help students to stay engaged in teacher lectures.

In the large hallway facing the quad there will be a swiveling 60-inch plasma TV and an Apple touchscreen computer for students and alumnae to search for and look at old photos from the archives. The TV is also able to display student and teacher presentations to larger classrooms.

One whole wall will be magnetized glass from ceiling to floor in each classroom. The walls have dual capabilities as display boards for students and dry erase boards for teachers.

Including the new technology,  Bone said they really wanted to capture the “STA spirit” in everything they created in the Windmoor Center and Chapel of St. Joseph.

“Everything is about our girls,” Bone said. “From the black granite design on the altar, to the beautiful gold and black terrazzo floor. We wanted it to tell our story.”

According to Bone, there is also an archive wall that includes artifacts that date back to the very first church in Kansas City. Other artifacts include the first slate ever used by the students at St. Teresa’s.

Some students still feel unsure about how the chapel will turn out.

“I feel that the chapel has taken away the ‘quad feel’ that I felt my first three years,” senior Megan Lewis said.

Senior Mackenzie Jones feels the same way.

“As a senior I was used to the way the campus looked with three buildings and I think the chapel blocks the view of the buildings from the parking lot,” Jones said.  “I think the lace will take some getting used to because it is so different from the rest of the campus, but it is not the worst thing they could have done.”

However, they are still looking forward to the opportunities the Windmoor Center brings.

“From what I have heard there is a lot of new technology that [administration] is going to try out, and I am excited to see how that works,” Lewis said.

Jones is excited to have class masses in an area meant for services instead of the auditorium and thinks it will add a deeper spiritual aspect to the religious life at St. Teresa’s.

“Now we have a real quad, and I bet it will look beautiful once the fences and construction cones are gone,” Jones said.

When the Windmoor Center opens, administration is hoping that it becomes a place for all students to relax, but not necessarily sleep.

“We want it to be a quiet place to study or meditate, with not too many students crowding the building,” Bone said.

There were no unexpected changes to the building plans during construction and everything went smoothly, according to Bone. As chapel completion approaches, she is looking forward to the day when students are able to explore the inside.

“The [Windmoor Center] is going to be just breathtaking,” Bone said.