During the cool morning hours of March 2, members of the school community came together to unveil the new Academic Building. President Simon Hess and Board Chair Scott Davidson stood alongside current and future Upper School students to cut the ribbon to the new facility part of Phase III of the “Transformation. Together. 2026.” campaign.

This new building will house many Signature Programs including Digital Mass Media, International Law and Diplomacy, Business, Architecture, and Engineering.

“The new spaces lend themselves for flexibility, creativity and collaboration, all of which will enhance our work in striving to cover stories that matter to our students and community as a whole,” Digital Mass Media Department Chair Monica Rodriguez said. 

Not only will the new building provide space for collaboration as well as spaces designed for independent study and group gatherings, but it will also have a new café and concession stand for sport games. Additionally, the building will have a press box overlooking the new Sean Taylor ‘01 Memorial field.

“It’s going to be revolutionary for Gulliver Prep, we’ve never had a [Press box] before and it’s going to change how we deal with game day operations”  Director of Sports Information Federico Mor-Tatis said. 

With the new addition of the press box, comes a new aspect of sports coverage for our mass media students who are ecstatic about the new addition along with the sports staff. “I’m very excited about the new opportunity for the mass media students selected to be in the press box next year. They will be able to get great coverage of the game while increasing participation” Mor-Tatis added.

According to Dean of Students Tyrone Sandaal, the goal is for classes to begin in the New Building on April 2 after returning from spring break but there are still too many factors to say decisively that there will be class there that day. Students like freshman Samantha Alonso are excited to start taking class inside the new building.

“Moving into a new building will be a fun experience… I’m specifically excited to move into the Journalism room and have a new space to cooperate with my peers. I was only able to be in the new Center for Student Life at the MCK campus for a year before moving to the Upper School, and now I get to enjoy another new building for the rest of my time here,” Alonso said.