| May 27, 2009 City officials including the mayor of Barnegat Township, the Hon. Jeffrey Melchiondo, school officials, teachers, students at the Dunfee ceremony were impressed with the new spaces, Maggie Greco, AIA, KSS associate said. "One exiting fifth grader said, 'Man, we just missed out on the new space!'" she said. Other people commented the design was of the quality they would expect for a college or university space. In 2004, the New Jersey Schools Development Authority contracted KSS to renovate three elementary schools, all located in the Barnegat Township school district. Now the Lillian M. Dunfee, Robert L. Horbelt and Cecil S. Collins schools have renovated spaces that well accommodate their growing student populations. Read the press release. Read about the event on Barnegat Township Schools and SDA web site. |
| May 20, 2009 Before a crane lifted the beam into place 74 ft above grade, it was signed by a number of project members, including KSS' David Zaiser and J Shermeta, construction manager Art Fives, project manager Christine Carstensen, facilities project leader John Kiefer, and director of SHA facilities William Dowdall. After the beam was installed, attendants celebrated with food from Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, Syracuse, N.Y., and a custom "topping off" cake complete with edible image of tower project. |
| May 11, 2009 KSS also designed the school, which will serve up to 80 students and house about 90 teachers and staff members. KSS built a wood-and-paper model of the school for Eden and the event, which was a crowd pleaser. Eden teachers and staff members were heard pointing out their future office or classroom on the model. Eden families and board members have already raised $2.5 million. Three of Eden's $7 million goal is earmarked to start an endowment fund for Eden's adult community; Eden guarantees their students admission into their adult education programs, but currently at the loss of about $1 million per year. In their article, U.S.1 details how Merilee went above and beyond to design a facility that would meet the needs of Eden students and teachers. Merilee also talks about how motherhood has influenced her design. Read the U.S.1 article. |
