WEB EXCLUSIVE After 13 months of renovation the Columbus Room is ready to open and hold a variety of events for the community.

The Columbus Room is located in the Morning Star building on the Pine-Octavia campus. The renovation project began in April of 2019, but with multiple delays and setbacks it could not be finished until now.

“I can’t wait to see it,” junior Madison Kwan said. “I feel like it’s been under construction forever, and it’ll be interesting to see what it looks like now.”

Besides serving lunch, the school uses the Columbus Room for hosting events such as One Less Hungry, a monthly service event, and occasional school dances.

“I have gone to multiple One Less Hungry events in the Columbus Room,” Junior Kelly Cronan said. “I think in the future a new space will be beneficial because it will allow more people to come and volunteer their time without the room getting too crowded.”

The food service provided on Pine-Octavia will now mirror the service offered by SAGE on the Broadway campus. The room now features an updated kitchen, the ability to broadcast live-streaming events and renovated bathrooms.

“We have this HD projector now, it’s a movie theater experience in terms of both the quality of the picture and the quality of the sound, so we’re going to be able to do some really fun activities,” Head of School Tony Farrell said. “We don’t have any other room on campus that has the capabilities and the functionality of what we have in that space.”

The new space is unlike any other room on campus as it is the only space in the building that has experienced such extensive renovations.

“I am excited about the various new features the room will have,” Cronan said. Before the renovations the space seemed outdated and felt cramped in terms of space, but with the remodel I am optimistic about the potential this space has from daily lunches to larger events.”

The room’s capacity holds more than 250 people, however, due to the pandemic it remains unsure how the room will be utilized in the near future.

“I think we will still be able to use the room and maintain social distancing since the area is quite large,” Kwan said. “I think it will allow people to be together as a community in a COVID-19 safe way while simultaneously making the most out of the new space.”