HOORAY!!  Construction at the Thames Valley Campus is finally beginning next Monday, April 2^nd.  Although we are still waiting final approval of a few State permits to begin new construction work, DPW has authorized the General Contractor to proceed with certain renovation and demolition portions of the contract.  Complete approval for the entire project is expected in approximately two weeks.  In the mean time the following work will begin next Monday or shortly thereafter:

• Thames Valley cafeteria will be closed and work commenced on our new Childcare Center to be located in that area.
• A divided hallway of some sort will be created by the old cafeteria to block off renovation areas but still permit use of the hallway, stairwell and north entrance to that corridor.
• Demolition of Room 119 (Old Lecture Hall) to make way for the new Science and Technology Wing to be built in that area.
• Establishment of a new temporary food service area in the existing Thames Valley Gym.  This new facility should be open for operation by the beginning of Summer School 2007.
• Demolition and renovations of North Wing classrooms and offices.
• Removal of all trees which are within the footprint of the new building and parking areas for our new campus. This involves approximately 30 trees including those surrounding the current NTHS building.  Tree removal is scheduled to begin next Wednesday, with removal of the larger trees to take place on Friday, April 6^th when both TRCC and NTHS are closed.

Construction at the Mohegan Campus also continues to move along rapidly:

• Work on both the Shop Wing and Gym / Cafeteria Wing seems to be progressing on schedule and we can begin to visualize the finished product a little more each day.  
• Selected pieces of stained glass from the Gallery are now being removed to be re-hung at our new campus.
• Demolition of portions of the Gallery, garage, and courtyard will begin around the middle of April but will not affect access between the classroom building and the Annex. Prior to this demolition, the staff of UCONN Extension’s Master Gardening program will be coming in to remove any plantings that might be re-useable in any of their programs.  We will also be removing the bluestone in the court yard for re-use at our new campus.
• Tentative plans for swing spaces for moves this summer have been reviewed by all divisions and should be finalized shortly.  We are very pleased to announce that a professional moving coordinator, Jennifer Chadukiewicz has been hired by the project architect to assist us with these moves.  Jennifer is beginning to work with us this week, and she will eventually be working almost full time with all offices to plan the details and timing of each specific move.  Welcome Jennifer!!!

Thanks again to everyone for all your patience and assistance as we move through these challenging times.  I hope you can see that the light at the end of the tunnel is indeed becoming a little brighter.