By Jennifer Nelson
Dining in style has a whole new meaning at Northeastern this semester with two newly renovated facilities now open to students.
Stetson West and Out Takes have both undergone renovations in an effort to make dining easier and more comfortable for students, said Director of Dining Services Maureen Timmons.
Construction on the facilities began early last summer, Timmons said, and was completed in time for freshmen and upperclassmen to return to campus for the fall semester. Out Takes, tripled in size, will open today.
“We’re just really excited about all this,” Timmons said. “We’re trying to keep things new and interesting, and keep things fun.”
Stetson West nearly doubled in size, adding 200 seats to its once 225 student capacity. Five plasma screen televisions were also added, which can play anything from recently released DVDs to ESPN.
Students said they liked the idea of having televisions in their dining hall.
“I really like the TVs, it would be great to come down here for the baseball games and eat,” said sophomore engineering major Colin Bradley.
Besides the added seating and plasma screen televisions, new areas for drinks, plates and silverware make getting around the dining hall easier, Timmons said.
Some students, however, said they still saw flaws in the new dining hall’s design.
“You have to walk all the way to the back of the dining hall to get the trays,” said Suzy Zaganjori, a sophomore nursing major.
Others said they saw the food as the biggest plus in Stetson West.
“This is such an improvement from Stetson East,” said freshman undecided major Chelsea Mclaughlan. “The food is definitely much better here.”
A new classroom kitchen area has also been added to Stetson West, Timmons said, which will expand the types of programming that will go on in the building.
“RAs [Resident Assistants] will be able to do programming in here, classes will be taught, anything is possible,” Timmons said.
The fully-working kitchen is equipped with cameras and televisions, where cooking programs can be held for students.
“Students seem to be way more interested in food nowadays,” Timmons said. “They seem to be really into it.
Out Takes, Northeastern’s take-out dining facility, has also been entirely renovated and moved to the opposite side of Stetson West.
The once cramped 100 square foot room has been nearly tripled in size, Timmons said, and added features allow food to be loaded from behind the storage units, so workers refilling the food supply won’t be in the way of students.
“Anytime there’s more space there will be more variety,” Timmons said.
The renovations are the first since Stetson East’s Levine Marketplace was renovated in 1999, Timmons said. She said she considers the renovations to Stetson West and Out Takes to be even greater improvements to Northeastern dining.
“We’re really becoming an example for schools across the country,” she said. “The reward is seeing students excited about it. It’s why we do what we do. We’ve got the ‘wow’ factor now, that’s our standard. Always try to make them say ‘wow.'”
