The basement of Founders Hall is now the target for Guilford’s next big renovation project.

Due to the work being done there, health services have been moved to the Milner Guest House. The move to the Guest House has affected a lot of the students and also the workers in the health center. The building is not as centrally located as Founders is, so while this is an advantage for students who are living in Milner and the apartments, the health center is on the opposite side of campus for students living in the other housing options.

Senior Ali Farnham is the only student who works at the health services currently. She says that the space is definitely nice and she is not opposed to the move, but that things have changed.

“In the other building I would take people’s temperatures and sign them in,” said Farnham.

Her job has now changed to looking for files and organizing things in the new building. She said that they only had one month to move everything and this was not sufficient time.

“(We) took one examination room away and now (the center) is spread over two floors,” Farnham said when asked if there were any major differences between the two spaces.

“We like the new area,” said Helen Rice, director of Student Health. “It provides more confidentiality for both student health and counseling.”

Rice also said that they are fully functioning now. “Facilities was most accommodating and did all our needed upgrades very quickly,” said Rice.

Founders’ transformation has been complicated but necessary. Associate Vice President of Operations and Facilities Jonathan Varnell says that for the seven years he has been at Guilford, Founders has needed renovation.

“Founders has refurbishment needs and has been a target of fundraising for many years,” Varnell says.

Unfortunately, additional funding was not the reason for the new construction. It was because of a problem that occurred.

“This fall, during school move-in, we had another pipe issue,” said Varnell. It was the final straw.”

This is why the project will begin now rather than over the summer. Varnell said this is a dreadful thing to happen at the time it did because it is a busy time for the facilities division.

But on the bright side, Varnell believes, this will benefit students because of the new additions and the problems that are being fixed.

The renovation of Founders has been delayed because the Career and Community Learning offices have to be moved to King Hall. Varnell said that this project will be done later in the fall because of their busy schedule. After that they can begin the needed construction.