The junior class might just have the best spot in Munger Hall: comfy chairs, tall windows and a grand piano. The only problem is that they aren’t allowed in the Collins Room all the time, since the room is a community space as well.
Many seniors said they don’t mind that the Collins Room is larger than the senior lounge because the juniors can get kicked out at anytime. Senior Class President Rosie said that the only thing that makes the seniors jealous is that “they have a piano and we don’t.”
Prior to the Collins Room, the juniors had half of a classroom right next to construction, and before construction they occupied the Disney Gallery above the now-demolished Salvatori Library. The Disney Gallery was not a space dedicated to the lounging of juniors, but essentially a hallway with padded benches outside the art classrooms. The Collins Room is an obvious upgrade from the previous spaces.
According to Assistant Head of School Laura Hotchkiss, giving the juniors the Collins Room to use informally was a decision made by the Senior Academic Team. However, officially, the Collins Room is a community space. Essentially, anyone can use the space, not just the juniors, at any time.
A common misconception is that the Collins Room is the new “junior gallery,” but they can get kicked out any time.
Alison Moser, twelfth grade level dean, said that when others need the room, juniors aren’t giving up something that belongs to them.
“It’s not that they’re being ‘kicked out’ so much as they’re being allowed to use the space when it’s not being used for something else,” she said.
A space that 11th Grade Dean Reid Cottingham calls “one of the most beautiful rooms on campus” is bound to be used for purposes other than homework and napping. Receptionist Brenda Diaz, who is in charge of the Master Calendar, said that the room is used about four times a week, though they try not to schedule things during the day.
“It would be nice to be notified in advance,” Kyle ’11 said, voicing the opinion of several juniors.
Cottingham recently addressed that by e-mailing juniors a schedule of when they must clear out. That means not just themselves, but everything that they brought in with them, including a small straw basket of magazines that the class keeps by the door, which exemplifies the temporary feel that juniors have in the space – one that seniors don’t ever experience in their lounge.
The Collins Room “still brings us [juniors] all together despite the fact that it’s not technically just for us,” Junior Class President Julia ’11 said.
Genesis ’11 even said that she doesn’t mind getting kicked out, especially for a parent meeting, because “we get the food when they are done.”
Written by Phoebe (Kathryn contributed to this article)
