School Proudly Dedicates New Dining Room
For the past five months, crews have been working hard to complete extensive and exciting renovations to the school’s Dining Room. On Sun., Nov. 15, we were proud to provide our community with its first glimpse of the impressive new space, during our Dining Room dedication ceremony.
The day began with a special edition of our Salesian Community Mass, then attendees joined us in the Quadrangle, where we blessed the new Dining Room and dedicated it in honor of faithful alumna, mother, and grandmother Helen McKenna Sheehy JC ’49. Helen and many family members were on hand to celebrate the milestone, along with numerous current families, alumnae, Sisters, faculty and staff, and friends of the school.
From left to right, Sister Mary Berchmans Hannan ’48, ’50, Helen McKenna Sheehy JC ’49, and and Ann Sheehy Fowler ’86.
Remarkably, the Dining Room had remained relatively untouched since 1910, when our student body was just a third of what it is today and when food service and event space needs where quite different. The renovations aimed to open up the previously cramped Dining Room and create a bright, spacious, multipurpose space.
The new Dining Room can seat half of our student body at one time, will provide a greater array of food choices and healthy options, and will serve as a daytime study-space and much-needed medium-sized event location. It teems with special touches, like a cozy gas fireplace, flatscreen monitors and state-of-the-art multimedia capabilities, and a section of inviting high-top “bistro” tables. It also has air conditioning for the first time, and the adjoining kitchen and servery have received major upgrades as well.
We look forward to celebrating the official opening of the Dining Room with students later this school year.
View a gallery from the Dining Room dedication here.
If you have questions about the project, please contact Nathalie Bergin Sullivan ’71 (nsullivan@visi.org,202.337.3350).