Another senior class will be without a quad to call home.

By Davis Rich

The center of campus construction project will take 8 to 12 months longer to complete than was earlier anticipated according to Upper School Director John Schafer. The project, which will renovate the student center, adding a cafeteria and a patio outside, will be completed in May 2018 at best.

After reviewing Menlo’s construction plans and current layout, land surveyors realized that a new septic tank will need to be constructed to accommodate increased traffic in the area. “The way we see it, the Mandarin bathroom simply cannot account for the increase in people in the area,” Director of Construction David McAdoo said. According to McAdoo the septic tank will be built in the summer, but the lost time will cause the project to bleed into the 2017-18 school year.

As a result, the class of 2018, in addition to the class of 2017, will be without a senior quad. “We’re going to make accommodations for those students to use the loop as a congregation area,” Schafer said. “We figure something is better than nothing.”

Schafer added that the school has decided to retain Sodexo as Menlo’s sole food and nutrition provider. “Students seem to love the food. I never hear anyone complain about it at all,” Schafer said.