Archmere has grown a great deal since its humble beginnings with 19 students in September of 1932. At that time the Patio served as the main academic building, cafeteria, recreation center, chapel, priory and dorm.

As the student body grew so did the buildings on campus: a gymnasium was added in 1939; St. Norbert Hall in 1959 (for a student body of 200); the field house in 1967; Justin E. Diny Science Center in 1973; and in 1983 the Performing Arts center was added to St. Norbert Hall.

Starting in 1975, the year Archmere become a co-educational institution, the rate of growth of the student body greatly accelerated. That year the student body was 372 with 40 faculty/staff. Fifty (50) of the students were female. Since the 1990s the student body has stabilized at approximately 500 students, 80 faculty/staff and 250 of the students are female. In addition to the increase in the number of students since 1975 there has also been an increase in the advanced placement (AP), required and elective course offerings as well as the addition of such programs as: music, computer science, concert and stage band, choir, and art. Many of these programs, especially the AP program, are the best in the region. There has also been growth in the after school and athletic programs.

In summary, between 1975-1995 there was: a 35% increase in the number of students, a 5-fold increase in the number of female students, a 100% increase in the faculty and staff and a greatly expanded curriculum and activities schedule. At the same time significant changes were made in the building codes related to life safety and accessibility. Durning this period of growth and change Archmere has had essentially no change to its physical plant.

All of this growth has put a tremendous strain on the campus. The acute problem areas are: scheduling challenges due to limited classroom space, a larger student body and expanded course offerings; inadequate locker space in the school and gym; inadequate fitness facilities especially for female athletes; a cafeteria that takes 3 1/3 periods to serve lunch which contributes to scheduling problems; a shortage of parking spaces; a shortage of practice fields; and a shortage of bathrooms especially for female students.

The physical plant of the school has to expand just to accommodate the current size of the school. In early 2002 the Board of Trustees of Archmere Academy authorized a $4.2 million expansion/refurbishment project of the Justin E. Diny Science Center that was previously recommended by the facilities committee. Shortly after the start of that project the board hired the architectural firm of Anderson Brown Higley Associates to develop a Campus Master Plan. The purpose of the Master plan is to develop a concept of how to best use the campus so Archmere has the physical plant assets to fulfill its mission.

Denis O'Flynn O'Brien ’74 (P'05) is a partner in the firm and was project leader. The study phase of the project consisted of interviews with: members of the faculty, department heads, the administration, alumni, mothers guild and fathers club and members of the facilities committee. A review was conducted of the previous campus studies. A survey was done of the current physical plant and space allocations. The design phase of the project consisted of several brain storming sessions and regular design reviews with the various groups as the concepts started to take shape. The Campus Master Plan was completed and approved in March of 2003 after including some feed back from the Board of Trustees.

The Campus Master Plan for Archmere Academy consists of 4 phases to be implemented over the next 15-20 years. The near term goal of the plan is to address some of the acute facilities problems faced by Archmere. The long term goal of the plan is to maximize the campus resources so Archmere has all of the physical assets needed to continue to excel at executing its mission

Phase One of the plan is complete and consisted of the partial expansion/refurbishment project of the Justin E. Diny Science Center mentioned earlier. The project added two lab/classroom sections, a green house and refurbished the existing lab/classroom space on the upper two floors. This phase was paid for with a combination of grants, donations, internal funds and loans.

 

Phase Two of the Master Plan (time period 2003-2007) consists of: completing the expansion/refurbishment of the Diny Science Center by adding 3 classrooms to the lower floor and refurbishing the lecture hall, adding a student life building which will house some support functions (such as: the cafeteria, guidance, college counseling, discipline, nurses office) currently in St. Norbert Hall, converting the east side of the main parking lot into a grass area, converting the vacated space in St. Norbert Hall into 6 classrooms; and converting maintenance space in the field house into locker rooms and fitness space, building a maintenance /athletic equipment storage facility, adding parking, re-grading and shaping athletic fields and the associated required site improvements. This phase will add a total of: 9 classrooms and a small lecture hall to the academic space, a cafeteria sized to feed the student body in 2 periods, and 100 additional parking spaces. This phase will also improve the athletic facilities and improve the appearance and layout of the west side of the campus.

For more information on Phases 1 & 2 view the slide show.

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Phase 3 of the master plan (time period 2010-2015) consists of renovations to the Manor, St. Norbert Hall, the Patio as well as the addition of a new field house.

Phase 4 of the Master Plan (time period 2015-2020) consists of building a Visual Arts building, to complement the Performing Arts building, a humanities building, and more work on the athletic fields.

More detailed information of phases 3 & 4 will be available at a later date.

Implementation of the Campus Master Plan is very important for Archmere to continue its high standards. Archmere will not be able to execute the plan with out your support. Please contact Tom Mallon ’85 302-798-6632 x 709 to find out how you can help.

Your feed back on the Campus Master Plan is very important. Please take a minute to comment on the plan.