Lush grass has finally started to spring anew from of the ashes that were the old tennis courts outside of the gym. “There is a blueprint,” says Dean of Students Aaron Fetrow. But the question remains, what will the new park look like?

“I know that there were two anonymous gifts, one non-anonymous, actually someone gave us money for the new tennis courts, and with that gift given the opportunity came to get rid of these aging cracking courts,” Fetrow said.

Guilford does not have to hide the natural beauty of its campus, and its beautiful quad and other grassy areas are well maintained and upheld. Our campus takes pride in its open green spaces and old trees. Logically, people appear thrilled about a new park inside the school.

“I think it is phenomenal,” Fetrow said. “I’m one of these romantics about college campuses. I want a place where students can just have fun and hang out.”

Elizabeth Stapleton, sophomore, sees the possibilities of new additions to the campus on the grassy field.

“Swings, no a tire swing would be great,” Stapleton said. “And if they put in plants they should all be native. Oh! And we need a place for smokers, like a new gazebo or a tree house.”

Sophomore Sam Flake was eager to share his opinion on what he hopes the school will put in the new plot.

“Well, I’m a strong advocate of the underground lava cave, complete with jungle gym, bat house, and tire swing. But seriously we need to push for the tire swing,” Flake said.

The tire swing seems to be a general win with Flake and Stapleton, but how about the opinion of someone that saw the tearing down of the courts.

“When they were tearing down the tennis courts over the summer and I was watching it happen with a friend of mine who works in the athletic center, I asked him what they were putting in,” said sophomore Maggie Martin. “When he said a community park was going to be built I was pretty upset because I was really hoping for a nice new parking lot.”

According to Martin, the tearing down of the fences and pulling up of the entire court was quite a spectacle, complete with a crew of facility workers and bulldozers. Martin admits that even if she is not getting a shiny new parking lot, she is still excited to see what the school’s going to put in.

Jon Varnell, associate vice president of operations and facilities, explained that “(More than likely), the next phase of work doesn’t happen until next summer.”

This is not to say that the blueprints are not on the table. It seems that they plan to install a similar setup to what was built in the old Binford gazebo location.

It’s nice to know that our fine school will continue to strive to be as aesthetically beautiful