Bridgewater College Seeking Donations For Campus Upgrade

Bridgewater College sophomores (left to right) Rachel Malboeuf, Krista Kelly and Whitney Shifflett practice taking blood pressure during a CPR class at Nininger Hall on Monday. The school is seeking donations for a $9 million project that would upgrade the building, which houses various classes as well as sports teams and recreational facilities. (Photo by Jason Lenhart / DN-R)

Bridgewater College students use the weight room in Nininger Hall. The planned project would improve the college’s sports facilities and provide space for its largest department, health and human services. (Photo by Nikki Fox / DN-R)

Bridgewater College junior Stequita Cooper, 20, watches members of the boys basketball team during her internship class in Nininger Hall Monday. (Photo by Nikki Fox / DN-R)

HARRISONBURG — Bridgewater College is relying as much as it can on donations to see the school through a $9 million campus upgrade.

The school recently announced a fundraising campaign for an expansion and renovation project to Nininger Hall, which would improve BC’s sports facilities and provide space for the college’s largest department, health and human services. The board of trustees approved the project more than a year ago.

“We’re looking at a variety of different people who will contribute,” said Abbie Parkhurst, director of marketing and communications for Bridgewater, who said that includes alumni, students, faculty, staff and community members.

“Our hope is that we can raise as much as possible,” she said, adding that other revenue streams, such as cash reserves, will be used to round out the amount raised.

In addition to providing what Parkhurst said is a much needed upgrade to the home of the college’s 22 NCAA Division III athletic programs, the project will bring the school’s health and human services department under one roof.

Nininger Hall, which is 55,000 square feet excluding the pool area, was built in 1958 and last renovated in 1988. Since then, the college’s student population has grown by 79 percent to its current enrollment of 1,750, and the health and human services academic program has “grown exponentially,” Parkhurst said.

The program encompasses six majors and four minors, 12 full-time and four part-time faculty members and approximately 360 students.

“We’ve combined several different programs to form that department, and so people are [currently] in different buildings,” she said. “This will really help to solidify that program and make it cohesive.”

The project, with an anticipated completion date of August 2014, will renovate the existing space and add up to 16,000 square feet to the building.

“Together we have a lot of alumni who have been influenced and impacted by the sports programs here and we’re hoping that they will contribute and students in our health and human sciences program,” Parkhurst said.

Contact Emily Sharrer at 574-6286 or esharrer@dnronline.com