Armour Academic Center Opening Celebrated

The Westminster community marked the formal opening of the Armour Academic Center with a ceremony on Sept. 26 that was attended by students, faculty, trustees, town officials and a number of individuals whose generous gifts helped make the center a reality.

“Although we staged a ribbon-cutting ceremony on our first day of classes a few weeks ago, this morning will be, in effect, our grand opening for the Armour Academic Center, a place fundamentally about teaching and learning,” said Headmaster Graham Cole. “We particularly want to introduce and salute those who made this possible in the presence of those who teach and learn so that they might see the families who gave so generously to finance it, those who labored so tirelessly to design and to build it, those who had the vision to see our need for it, and those who traveled the nation and the globe to garner support for it.”

He added that at times like this it is important to be aware of the school’s history. “For 109 years now, students and teachers as real as we, worked, studied, laughed, argued, played and worshipped on this campus,” he said. “They are gone, as surely as we, too, shall be shortly. But if you listen carefully, you can hear their chatter, their cheers, their songs, their recitations, their chapel talks. In no time at all, this new building will become one of those well-known places on our campus, like Cushing, Memorial, Milliken and Keyes, and another generation of Westminster students will struggle to imagine how we were ever as real as they. They will know us, in part by the character of this academic center, which is an expression of what we thought about education and our school at the beginning of this 21st century.”

Trustee Emeritus Joe Gitterman ’55, P’86, ’90, who for the past decade served as the key trustee working on all major Westminster construction projects, gave an overview of the planning process for the new center, recognized members of the construction committee for all of their hard work on the project and highlighted some of the key features of the building, including its rigorous environmental standards during construction and operation.

Lastly, Chairman of the Board of Trustees John Armour ’76 talked about the large debt of gratitude owed to the many individuals who were instrumental in making the academic center a reality. “Every building has a story — just ask the people who conceived the project, or who designed and built it, or who helped pay for it and, most importantly, for all of you who will be served by it today and those who will benefit from it in the future,” he said.

“If you were to talk to the dozens of people who played a role in bringing this academic center to life, you would hear hundreds of different stories,” he added. “As we celebrate this building, please take just a few moments to imagine the people who transformed the original vision of this project into a reality. What we see before us today is the culmination of a truly collaborative process. Behind the bricks and mortar are people who believe in the vision and future of Westminster.”

Following the celebration ceremony, numerous guests toured the building.