This week, the Physical Education Activity Program (my department) at Texas A&M moved to a brand-new, state-of-the-art building because our current home, the G. Rollie White Coliseum, is being torn down as part of the Kyle Field renovations. This is a great opportunity for our program to teach classes in a much nicer space, incorporate new technology, and offer activities to the community in the evenings. All of that is wonderful, but many of us that attended classes in good ol' G. Rollie and now teach there are having a very hard time saying goodbye to the old building.
Being a student and a teacher in the same building is a great honor to me. It is with great pride that I serve the department that gave me the internship that led to my first health education job. I have great memories as a student in G. Rollie and Read. Chance and I first started "talking" in the Read computer lab. According to my students, many relationships still begin there! My friend Rebecca and I also spent hours and hours in computer lab working on projects for our pre-internship class. In other rooms, I learned from great professors like PJ Miller, Dr. Elledge, Debe Shafer, and Dottiedee Agnor. It is amazing to now call them colleagues! Our college friends spent so much time in Read and G. Rollie that we dubbed it the "homeland". Once in awhile, we were forced to take classes in other buildings, but always rushed back to the homeland to see our friends. It is the same way now as a faculty member... despite its old age, or perhaps because of it, G. Rollie always feels like home.
Why? This place has CHARACTER! Whether it is in the form of a classroom/office numbering system that no Aggie understands (my office is 209, and 3 doors down is a conference room numbered 241), closets that were turned into offices, locker rooms that were turned into classrooms, mysterious changes in floor colors that supposedly signified moving from one building into another, out of place palm trees at the entrance, or going downstairs to stay on the 2nd floor, we learned to live with and love our building's quirks. Of course, there were a few things that we did not love and will not miss about the building. A few summers ago we had a cricket infestation and the raquetball courts were literally filled with them. We had a flood about 2 years ago that filled most of the first floor with standing water. Two co-workers had to vacate their offices because bats moved in. I taught 7 years of dance classes in an un-air conditioned room. Our offices had thermostats, but we had no control over the temperature. Faculty were often found wearing coats and gloves in their offices during the winter, and staying in the hallways as much as possible during the summer because our offices were unbearably hot. And, our most recent visitor was a rat that moved from office to office. He apparently visited my office right after I had Annie. There was a huge mess when I came to visit one day and it was so hungry that it ate an envelope.
But, as a bit of a reward for dealing with these inconveniences, I got to walk past Kyle Field every single day on my way into work. I got to teach on a gym floor that still proclaimed our membership in the Big 12. I got to walk down a hallway every day that was decorated with one of TAMU's oldest logos. And my office had a maroon door!
We tend to play musical offices in our department as our great boss is always trying to make sure people have the nicest office possible as they move up the ladder. In my 7 years of teaching, I've had 3 different offices and shared with 5 different people. My last 5 years have been spent at 209 G. Rollie White. This office was inhabited by several other faculty members at different times and housed part of the Sports Management department right before I moved in. Thanks to them, I had really nice furniture! Since most of my waking hours during the semesters were spent at work, I've been thinking about all that these walls have seen and heard...
These walls have heard every single type of dance music as I've practiced steps at my desk (Yes, I dance alone. Yes, I practice both male and female steps. No, I did not always remember to close my door when I did this). These walls have heard shouts through the cinder blocks as I yelled computer questions to my neighbor. They've heard student breakthroughs and breakdowns. They've muffled cries of sadness as I returned to work after leaving Cade at daycare and cries of frustration as I struggled through some committee work. These walls have heard some great teaching ideas and some really bad ones. They've probably heard soft snores as I took naps between classes on my floor. (When you're tired enough from having an infant that doesn't sleep or from being very pregnant and still teaching kids how to cha-cha, you can sleep anywhere). Best of all, these walls have held together wonderful bonds between co-workers that turned into great friends. They've heard our jokes, stories, pranks, and questions. And they've heard laughter so loud that people downstairs come up to see what is going on. That was a great day.
Of course, it never occurred to me to take a picture of my office until I was all packed up. Every single thing was packed, labeled, and ready to go my new place, office number 230.
On my last visit to the office, the trees outside were already taken down and construction equipment was ready to work outside.
We received an email today saying that no one will have access to G. Rollie White after 5:00 pm on Friday, July 26. I think that we will visit the new place on my birthday to help us get started in this new phase!
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