Out With the Old And In With the New At Riverside

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Created on Monday, 08 December 2014 18:18

Written by Kendra Carter

LYNDON VT-The Riverside school has spent the last twenty month finding fin ace support for their newly reconstructed  barn, last night they called that campaign to a close.

The idea for the barn came to them in 2013. Their older barn was part of the original farm that once was The Riverside School. It was centuries old, and had suffered many a remodel. Though the barn was beloved by their community, it was no longer working as a space for the school.

“Over the years it was a really heavily used facility, but an old facility. The beetles had gotten into the timbers, at some point some of the the structural supports had been removed to make room for basket ball hoops, and it was extremely cold,” remembers Roy Sterling, a teacher at the school and the Owners Representative for the project. “We couldn’t have assembles if it was much below zero, band kids had to ear gloves when they were playing their instruments.”

Now the barn is both space and energy efficient. It is home to three extra class rooms, and a spacious auditorium/theater. On top of it’s roomy interior the building boasts LED lights that used ten percent of the a normal light, automatically dim depending on the amount of sunlight being let in, and turn on and off depending on whether someone is in the room. They also used severl pieces of the old barn, including beams and old floor boards, to keep the timeless feeling intact. 

Anonymous donors payed a large percentage of the buildings cost, and though they wished to remain anonymous.  Instead of asking for recognition themselves they simply wished to dedicated he to whomever they wished. The stage was dedicated to Roy Starling for all the work he put into to overseeing the project, and the hall itself was dedicated to Sally and

Jim Newell, two of the six original founders of the Riverside School.

When asked how it felt to be recognized by the donors Sally Newell said “It’s very special, because we’ve been so involved with the school though all those years.” The Newell’s haven’t been officially teaching for some years now, but they still stay involved with the school and keep in touch with many of their students.

The barn can also be rented for public or private events. The school is eager to share their new building with anyone who is interested.