GW may seem like nearly a new world for seniors who descended on campus three years ago. The freshman version of the Class of 2017 would be mind blown by the changes to the University over the past few years.
In the past three years, two state-of-the-art buildings were completed, top-level administrators resigned or retired and the University has absorbed an arts college.
Incoming freshman won’t even know what J Street is, and they won’t be required to spend on-campus dining dollars. Now, the first floor of the Marvin Center is undergoing renovations with “scaled-down” dining options.
Freshmen three years ago would be shocked that District House is finally complete and that students will actually live there in the fall. Seniors remember calling the 900-bed building “Superdorm,” before there was even a name for the building.
The Science and Engineering Hall has become one of the most popular campus spots to meet up with other students, but freshman three years ago didn’t have the building to spend time in or to utilize in their science courses.
Seniors today have to think twice before directing prospective students and their parents to the campus bookstore and make sure to send them to the bottom floor of the Marvin Center – a floor below where the store was located three years ago. And the Colonial Health Center is on the first floor of the Marvin Center now after moving there last year – saving students from trekking all the way to K Street to get antibiotics when they contracted the annual “Thurston plague.”
Seniors have memories of the campus eateries and hangouts that incoming freshmen will never get to experience. Underclassmen will never taste Cone E. Island, which closed two years ago after 27 years in business. Now, Captain Cookie — the beloved ice cream and cookie food truck on campus — has a permanent spot filling Cone E. Island’s void in 2000 Penn.
There were other restaurant losses in the past three years that seniors have had to grieve. Two years ago they had to bid farewell to the Thai Place on Pennsylvania Avenue. And last year students were spared the Uber ride to Adams Morgan to experience an all-night diner when Olivia’s Diner opened on 19th and L streets, just to have their dreams dashed when the diner closed this summer.
