Construction Update
A new 8600 square-foot student center is being built on the Indian Mountain campus. The hope of the groundbreaking new edifice is to profit and diversify the art, music, and science departments, as well as improve day and boarding student life. “The Student Center will be finished in mid January 2014,” said Ken Marti, Director of Buildings and Grounds for Indian Mountain School.
Arts
The building will house a new arts center. All future art classes and electives will take place in the new building, and the main hallway of the structure will serve as an art gallery.  The entire art section of the building will have concrete flooring. Two upper school art rooms and one middle school art room will be located on the south wing of the new building. With the new arts center complete, the old upper school art rooms in the current art hallway are going to be the new faculty lounge and common room for Lower Osgood. The middle school art room will be repurposed to give additional space to the health center.

Music
The new building will also benefit the music department.  An 800 square-foot guitar room, a soundproof recording studio, drum room surrounded by glass windows, and 6 additional practice rooms will be located in the north end of the structure. To delineate the space apportioned for music from other spaces, it will receive carpet flooring. Meanwhile, the existing music space in the main building will remain in use for both the music and film departments.
 
Science
The Student Center will contain a fabrication lab for the science department at Indian Mountian. There will be a three-dimensional printer to aid and expand the study of robotics.  
 
Student Life
The Student Center is also being built in the hopes of benefitting day and boarding student life at IMS. In the middle of the new building, there will be a student lounge and the café. Students can go during their free time to relax and socialize with one another. There will be a kitchen and four tables in the common area to provide students with snacks and refreshments. The old student lounge located in the main hallway will become an office for the math department. With the completion of the new building, boarders will not have to go to the main building any more if they want to practice music, art, or simply relax at the end of the academic day. Finally, the kitchen will allow students to cook and make cooking competitions on weekends possible. “Students can work collaboratively on different projects,” said Mr. Donovan, Director of Residential Life.
The benefits of the new building seem numerous.  According to Mark A. Devey, Head of School, the new building will serve to “build a bridge for students from both our Upper and Lower Campuses, with a common meeting area that will provide a venue for students and parents to gather. Also, it will provide new spaces for local community events.” 

There have been no major setbacks in its construction, according to Mr. Marti, and the Indian Mountain community at large looks forward to its completion.

Maggie Zhu ’14