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Episode 1 Gordon College Campus Audio Tour
Hello,
Welcome to Gordon College!
My name is Troy and I will be your tour guide. This tour begins just outside the tunnel that goes under College Drive near the flag pole. We will tour East campus, then West Campus, and will end up back here at the tunnel.
Periodically, I will ask you to pause the recording so that you can walk to the next point or take a few minutes to independently tour the area. I will always use the word "pause" when you need to pause the recording. I will always use the word "stop" when you need to stop walking while I continue speaking.
This tour is intended to be listened to while walking around campus and does not include tours of any of the buildings. If you are taking this tour on a day when the buildings are open then please feel free to pause and enter the buildings along the way. In order to benefit the most from this recording remember to return to the spot on the tour where you paused the recording or to the spot where you were directed to go.
A number of construction projects are taking place on campus and we will attempt to update this recording so as to avoid any difficulties for you. I apologize if you should take this tour and encounter any difficulties due to our construction projects.
Please face the flagpole with your back to the tunnel. You will see two historical markers and two old cannon. These markers tell part of the story of Gordon's history, but certainly the history of this place is much too long to place on a marker. Founded in 1852, this College is the second oldest college in the University System of Georgia. You are walking on soil that was given to the state of Georgia with the stipulation that it always be used for public education. This is a very special place.
Students often have their photos made at the cannon after graduation in May. Pause the recording if you would like to read the markers and linger here. Otherwise, please look ahead to the closest building, Alumni Memorial Hall and begin walking toward it. Take the sidewalk to the right that winds around the building and stop when you reach the circular planter on the other side of Alumni Memorial Hall.
As you walk you will notice a blue emergency call box tower to the right of the sidewalk. These stations are located across campus so that students may quickly alert campus police if assistance is needed. The Gordon College campus is one of the safest campuses in the university system and our safety officers are all trained as full fledged police officers.
This building was completed in the 1960s and was recently renovated. It contains a basketball court, a weight and fitness room, as well as bathrooms, lockers, and showers. Many large events are held here including our annual freshman convocation. At this event all the incoming students gather to kick-off the year. The president and dean speak to the students and the students are given the Gordon creed, a promise to do their best and to do it with integrity and honesty. Next to Alumni Hall is the Aquatic Center with our Olympic-size pool. By now you are probably standing at the circle, pause the recording while you walk along the sidewalk to the sign that says Aquatic Center.
You may be able to see the enclosed pool from your vantage point at the sign. The aquatic center maintains regular hours for students and many student events are held here. If you are interested in more than just cooling off and are interested in competitive swimming then you may want to try-out for the Gordon College Swim Team.
From this point with your back to Alumni Memorial Hall you can see at least one of the buildings ahead of you that make up Gordon Commons, the three large residence halls completed in the summer of 2005. Begin walking toward the Commons on the sidewalk that runs beside the Aquatic Center and as you walk I will tell you about Gordon Commons. When you reach an intersection with a sidewalk going directly to the Commons turn left on that sidewalk.
The students who live in Gordon Commons enjoy apartment-style living. Each student has a private bedroom and shares a common living area with a kitchenette. The buildings are equipped with high speed internet access, study lounges, and laundry facilities. There are 24-hour patrols by Gordon security, which means students living away from home for the first time will experience life in a safe, protected and convenient setting. Since you don't have to pay multiple deposits, it is quite affordable when compared to renting an apartment off campus. Approximately 800 of Gordon's more than 3,600 students live on campus.
By now you are probably halfway down the sidewalk to Gordon Commons C. Stop and look to your left. You can see a tan building in the distance. This is Gordon Hall. Our clinic, staffed by a registered nurse, under the guidance of a local physician is housed there. This building also houses some athletic offices and the Gordon Public Safety department.
Continue now along the sidewalk toward the building ahead of you marked Gordon Commons C. The sidewalk makes a right turn near the entrance to the building and ahead of you is a small plaza with four benches. Pause the recording until you are standing near these benches.
Housing is in great demand every semester and it is often difficult to find housing on campus if you wait too long to apply. If you are interested in living on campus you have a much better chance of getting the residence hall you desire if you apply early. There is usually a long waiting list in the fall. Now look toward the two buildings Gordon Commons B and C. There is a plaza paved with gray brick ahead of you. Pause the recording until you are standing on the gray brick pavers.
Please turn to the left and walk between Gordon Commons A and B. When you reach the ends of these building you will see a circle of gray bricks around a circle of red bricks and in their center is a large G made from brick pavers. Pause the recording until you reach the G. Start it again when you are standing on the G.
This G marks the outermost edge of the East side of the academic campus. Look across Gordon Road and you will see the furthermost student parking lot from the academic core. Behind that lot are a stand of pines and oaks that belong to the College and provide a shady environment for the campus walking trail, called the Wolf Walk. If you look further to the left you will see a red brick building partially surrounded by chain link fencing. This building houses our maintenance and plant operations departments. You may see the large buses in the parking lot that transport our athletic teams. Back behind this building is the soccer practice field and the tall lights indicate the soccer playing field and the baseball and softball areas. There is also a pond, tennis courts, and racquetball court located in that area-THE HOME OF THE HIGHLANDERS. Gordon competes in a number of sports including wrestling. There are also a number of club teams who compete with other colleges.
Across the street from the G where you are standing is one of the residential neighborhoods that border the campus.
Turn now and look down the walkway where you came and begin walking back down the walkway. Pause the recording until you reach the gray brick paved area.
Continue on the sidewalk closest to the parking lot. You can see basketball courts and tennis courts to the right of the sidewalk. Ahead of you at the end of this walk is a blue emergency call box and there will be steps to your right. Stop when you reach those steps and as you walk I will tell you more about the College. Gordon is currently in transition, moving from a two-year school to a state school. We will soon offer our first-ever baccalaureate degree. That degree is in early childhood education and junior-level courses are scheduled to begin in Fall 2007. If you have not reached the steps by the call box, please pause the recording until you reach those steps.
Continue up these steps and walk to the left alongside the basketball and tennis courts. Pause the recording until you are standing at the farthest corner beside the tennis court.
Ahead you see the Academic Building to the right. The academic building houses many offices of faculty in the humanities division as well as the faculty of learning support English. There are also many classrooms here. Here you will find the writing center, a space devoted to assisting students in becoming better communicators. Faculty and student tutors staff the center and are willing to help students work with specific skills.
Straight ahead is the Fine Arts building. Continue along the sidewalk and stop when you reach the front doors of this building. In the Fine Arts building is an auditorium with 500 seats where many Gordon theatrical and musical performances are held. This auditorium has special lighting, sound equipment and an orchestra pit making it a first-rate entertaining venue. If you are interested in the arts you will spend a lot of time here. Try-outs for plays and productions are held many times during the year. Our choral groups perform on campus and in the community. We also have a community band made up of students and area residents who enjoy getting together and making music.
The fine arts faculty members have offices in this building. There are music practice rooms, choir rooms, art studios, and a number of other specialized learning spaces located here. Pause the recording if you would like to enter the building's main lobby. If it is closed, you may look through the tinted glass and notice a large bronze statue of an eagle in the lobby. It was given to the College by Mr. Dan Cathy of Chic Filet. Along the walls of the lobby are a number of paintings created by artists on our faculty, but they may be difficult to view from the window. Hopefully you will return to catch a performance here and will have an opportunity to view the artwork. If you are not standing at the front doors of the Fine Arts building, pause the tour until you are standing there.
Turn so that your back is facing the doors of the Fine Arts Building. From where you are standing you can see the front of the Academic Building to your right. To the left if you look along the red brick wall that borders College Drive you will see a pedestrian walkway and a traffic signal at the walkway. Follow the sidewalk to that crossing, and pause the recording until you have crossed the street and are just inside the wall on the opposite side of the street.
You are now on west campus, the oldest part of the academic core of Gordon College. Turn to your left and follow the side walk alongside the wall. Pause the recording until you are standing at the sign that says Melton Hall.
Melton Hall is a resident hall built in the traditional style with twin beds that can be bunked or set apart. Rooms are shared by two students who share a bathroom down the hall with others on their floor. Melton Hall residents benefit from the closest parking lot to the main campus. Behind Melton Hall is Watson Hall, and together, they are the two resident halls closest to the cafeteria and the main campus. By walking closer to the parking lot you can see Watson Hall in the distance.
From your position near the Melton Hall parking lot, you can see several buildings outside the red brick wall that are also part of Gordon College. The three buildings were once private residences and are all located on Spencer Street. The gray building at the corner of Spencer and College is the Gordon Welcome Center. The welcome center is part of our admissions office, and the staff would be happy to provide you with materials about Gordon. They also provide personal tours of campus if you contact them at 770-358-5354. Next to the gray house are two small brick houses. The first is home to the Gordon GYSTC, a special partner with Gordon College to improve science instruction in the K12 community. The last building houses Gordon's Community Education department. This department offers a variety of non-credit courses and arranges for conferences, meetings, and other events for external groups on campus.
Pause the recording and walk down the sidewalk that is along the side of Melton Hall and adjacent to the parking lot. Stop when you reach the end of the sidewalk and restart the tour.
Just ahead of you is the back of Watson Hall. This certainly is not its most attractive side, but this hall was also used for housing during Gordon's military days. The rooms here are traditional rooms with bunkable twin beds and desks and shared shower and bathroom facilities. Like Melton, it also contains a shared kitchen and laundry area. Turn to your right and walk along the backside of Watson toward the steps ahead of you.
To your right is Connell Hall. Connell Hall was constructed during the military days of Gordon College as a barracks. The heating and plumbing systems in the building are no longer functioning adequately and students are no longer housed here. The building is scheduled for demolition.
Pause the recording until you reach the top of the first set of steps.
You are now behind the Student Center. An expansion will soon greatly increase the space available in this building. Turn to your left and pause the recording until you have crossed the asphalt tow-away zone behind the loading dock and have turned right on the sidewalk. Walk along that sidewalk and start the recording again when you are standing in front of the sign that says Smith Hall (on your left).
With your back to the sign you can see the green picnic tables and the glassed atrium area of the student center to your right. Just inside the atrium is the cafeteria where students choose from a variety of food stations. There is also a full-service Krystal restaurant in the building. The campus bookstore and the mailroom are located here, as well as a small auditorium for student events. Gordon College has a very active student life and Student Government association and many of the functions of those groups take place in this building.
Turn now and face Smith Hall. This building is faced with brick that is different from that found on many of the other buildings. If you look upward above the column-like façade over the front entrance doors you will see the dates 1852 and 1939. As you know, the school was founded in 1852, and this building was constructed in 1939, during Franklin Roosevelt's administration. Today it houses our nursing program, a program consistently ranked as one of the top in Georgia. More than 1,500 nurses have graduated from Gordon's nursing program since it was established more than 30 years ago. The quality reputation of Gordon's nursing graduates is widely-known and graduates are sought after.
As you look down the sidewalk you will see a tall building with a glass front. About midway along the walk there is a sidewalk that goes to the left and a stand of pampas grass. Stop at that spot while I talk to you about the campus core. You will be at the midpoint of Lambdin Green, the enclosed lawn in the middle of the campus.
Face the rectangular green lawn. Every May the graduates of Gordon College walk across this grass to receive their diplomas. This soil has endured the marching of countless military cadets and this place is one of the most beloved by alumni. Lambdin Hall is across the green from where you now stand and it is the oldest building on campus. The cornerstone shows that it was constructed in 1907 as part of the Agricultural and Mechanical School movement in Georgia at that time. Today it houses the administration building, admissions, financial aid, and the business office. If Lambdin is open, you should feel free to enter it before you leave campus today. You will see a historical display that includes a mannequin for a cadet dressed in military attire and a portrait of the first president of Gordon College, Charles Lambdin.
Turn now so that your back is to Lambdin Hall and Lambdin Green. You will see a covered walkway with brick arches that connects Smith Hall to Russell Hall. This arcade was donated to the College in memory of the late Mrs. Dorothy Hightower of Thomaston. On the other side of the arched walkway is a small garden area with a gazebo. Just outside the gate of the red brick wall on the other side of the green space is Georgia House, the building where our human resources department is located.
Turn now and face the tall glass front building at the end of the walkway. Pause the recording while you continue along the sidewalk. Restart the tour when you reach the sign ahead of you for Russell Hall.
Russell Hall is named after our alumnus, Richard B. Russell, former Georgia governor, senator and statesman. Today it houses classroom space, as well as two large lecture halls, a small conference room, and a number of faculty offices for the division of business and social sciences. Continue walking toward the glass fronted building, the instructional complex. This four-story building is the tallest on the campus. The ground floor houses café a la carte where sandwiches, salads, drinks and Starbucks coffee are sold. Computer stations and teaching labs for technology are also on the ground floor. The upper floors contain classrooms as well as labs for chemistry, biology, physics, anatomy, and other sciences. Faculty offices for science and mathematics faculty are located here. If you are visiting when the building is open, please pause and take the time to ride the elevator to the top floor where you can get a birds-eye view of the Gordon campus.
If you don't have time to explore the building or if it is not open, please continue toward the door and then to the right on the sidewalk that runs close to the building along the glass-fronted wall. You can look into the lobby area as you walk by the building. Pause the tape until you have walked down the sidewalk in front of the glassed-front building and are standing on the side of the building facing the street. Do not go down the stairs.
Look directly across the street at the small white house with the red door. This is the Gordon Alumni House. It was purchased as a place to hold campus events and functions and to provide the alumni with a place on campus to call their own. If you look further to the right of the alumni house you will see a brick structure with a copper roof. This is Guillebeau hall, another residence hall.
This copper-roofed building was once a gymnasium, but it was extensively renovated and now houses our honor students in rooms that contain both a sitting area and a bedroom. These two-room residences still have shared bathrooms on each floor, but provide more space than the traditional style residences. Parking for this hall is in the Alumni Memorial Gym area, which is among the closest parking lots available for students.
Turn now and return to the campus core by the same sidewalk alongside the glass-front of the Instructional Complex. As you walk along this sidewalk you will notice several trees to your left and at their bases are plaques on slabs of stone. These trees were planted as part of our Memorial Tree Project. For a small donation people are remembered or honored with these permanent plaques. One of these trees was placed in memory of Col. CTB Harris, a much-loved former president.
Take the sidewalk to the left and pause the tour until you reach the front doors of the adjacent building-the Hightower Library.
This building, also named after the late Dorothy Hightower of Upson County, is well stocked with our book collection, computer stations, and other resources of learning. If the building is open, consider going inside to see furniture that once belonged to John B, Gordon, the College's namesake. Other pieces of furniture belonging to Mr. Gordon were donated to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, but we retain a small sofa, and mirror as well as a desk. In addition, a full length oil portrait hangs in the library and is on permanent loan from the University of Georgia. These pieces are inside the second set of doors and to the right.
The library also has a number of displays of historical significance. Several are in the lobby and others are located in the alumni room. The alumni room is usually locked, but a librarian will be happy to open it for you upon request. There you will find yearbooks and memorabilia from the earliest days of the College through the present. John B. Gordon's desk is in this room as are a number of books related to Georgia and its history.
Throughout the library are numerous paintings and sculptures of note.
If you don't have time to pause the tour and explore the library or if it is currently closed, please continue on the sidewalk toward the red brick wall that runs along College Drive. You will walk beside a circle planted with rose bushes and through a small plaza lined by holly hedges and benches.
Pause the tour until you reach the spot where the sidewalk leads downstairs to the tunnel.
If you turn toward the right and back you will again see Lambdin Hall, the oldest building on campus, but from this point you can see the atrium projecting from the College Drive side of the building. At one time this building had a footprint in the shape of a T and one wing of the building jutted out at the point of the atrium. Today this is considered the front entrance of the building, though many of the alumni still consider it the building's rear entrance.
You are almost done with this tour and are very close to the point where we started. From your vantage point you can see the amphitheater where we show movies in the evenings and have outdoor concerts and performances.
If you are taking this tour at a time when the campus is closed, I invite you to come back again when you can meet members of our admission and alumni staff. I encourage you to visit the website and email any questions or comments you may have to them.
Those of us who work here and who call this place our alma mater are very fond of it. Three are many fascinating stories about this place, the people who have taught here and the men and women who have been students here.
In a few minutes perhaps you will enter your car to drive home, but I hope your memory of this place remains with you. Take time to visit downtown Barnesville and to learn about this community. For more than 150 years the people of Barnesville have been welcoming students to Gordon College.
Gordon College would like to welcome you. Become part of the caring community of learners at Gordon-we'd love to have you here.