WCDS Breaks Ground on Wilson Student Center
Westchester Country Day School celebrated the groundbreaking of a new dining hall and student life facility to be named the Wilson Student Center. The name was revealed during an afternoon ceremony Friday on the Westchester campus and honors the Fred E. Wilson family for a $1 million gift, the first in the school’s 52-year history.
A crowd of more than 200 students, family members, faculty and supporters gathered to celebrate the naming and the start of construction. The Wilson Student Center is the first new building to be added to the campus since 2000. It is expected to be completed in spring 2020.
The $2.9 million, 11,628-square-foot student center will include a dining hall seating nearly 300, collaborative study space for students in grades 6-12, a health and wellness center with offices for the nurse and counselor, a private dining space, senior lounge, and an outdoor patio for dining and teaching.
“Each child and every member of the faculty and staff will pass through this building every day,” said Cobb Atkinson, head of school, during the ceremony. “It is a place where everyone will come together to share a meal and fellowship. We are and always have been a school deeply committed to building and sustaining an intentional community.”
The Wilson family has supported Westchester since the school’s founding, and family members from two generations have graduated from the school. They have given to the arts, field trips, the annual benefit auction, and more.
“The Wilson family has generously supported our school since the beginning through their time, talents and resources,” said Jamie Collins ’90, president of the Board of Trustees. “When we approached them about the campaign, they enthusiastically stepped forward to give us a running start with the first seven-figure gift in Westchester history.”
Cres Wilson Calabrese, class of 1985, who has served previously on the Board of Trustees and Alumni Council and is also a Westchester parent, represented the Wilson family during the groundbreaking ceremony.
“Westchester creates people that are passionate, independent thinkers, that are community-oriented, outwardly focused, and that happens in the types of environments where we all come together,” said Calabrese. “We come here to learn, to grow, to leave and then to come back, because it’s a family. So, I am so honored that the Wilson family name will be on another space to continue these traditions and this growth.”
The student center will be built in the heart of campus in the footprint of the Cats’ Den, the school’s original gymnasium. Built in the 1970s as one of the school’s early buildings, it was demolished this summer to make way for the new building.
Westchester is working with architect WGM Design of Charlotte and general contractor Kirkland Inc. of High Point for the project.
The Wilson Student Center is the first of several new construction projects planned for the Westchester campus. The Board of Trustees and senior leadership have worked for several years to develop a master plan and capital campaign to enhance the school’s facilities for its student body of about 415 students in grades Pre-K through 12.
“As we began to share our vision, passionate supporters stepped up in extraordinary ways to accelerate the construction of this project, the first of several new facilities we will add,” said Atkinson. “We are here today because of the Wilsons’ generosity and unwavering support. Their giving sparked other incredibly generous commitments, including a matching challenge from the Earl and Kathryn Congdon Family Foundation. These families and several others have continued to be involved in the life of our school over multiple generations. They have offered integral support, and because of them we are off and running.”
