NEW ORLEANS (BP) – Each day the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary campus looks more like a school and less like a construction site.
By Gary D. Myers
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
NEW ORLEANS (BP) – Each day the New Orleans Baptist
Theological Seminary campus looks more like a school and less like a
construction site.
Students and student families began moving back to
campus in early June with the reopening of The Manor and Courtyard
Apartments. The sounds of children playing have replaced the sounds of
hammers and heavy machinery. After months of work, the campus is clean,
safe and green – an oasis in a devastated city.
“After the heartache of watching our entire seminary
family move away in October, it is a joy beyond compare to see student
families moving back to the campus,” NOBTS President Chuck Kelley said.
“I never knew how precious the sight of children climbing all over the
playground equipment would be.”
Seminary contractor Mike Moskau said the restoration process is approximately 80 percent complete.
Faculty homes are scheduled to reopen to professors
and their families in July. The Oaks, a new two-bedroom student
apartment complex, also will open in July. School officials anticipated
an earlier opening for these units, but building material shortages
slowed the work.
The men’s and women’s dorms will be among the last
housing units to open. Kelley said the units will not be ready until
August because the administration wanted to improve the buildings
rather than merely restore them.
The improvements to the dorms include updates to the
electrical wiring as well as updates to the heating and air
conditioning system.
The seminary’s renewal and the returning campus residents are having an impact on the surrounding area.
City councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell, who
represents district “D” encompassing NOBTS and the surrounding Gentilly
neighborhood, said the seminary is a source of hope and encouragement.
“I was here during Katrina, I know what your
seminary looked like because I came back here on a boat,” Hedge-Morrell
said during a recent campus visit. “You have done an outstanding job.
You are a beacon for this whole community.”
For those questioning the viability of the city, Hedge-Morrell recommends a visit to NOBTS.
“When they [seminary neighbors] see what you have
been able to do … they are going to know their community is coming
back,” she said.