AROUND CAMPUS: August 28, 2008

With football season only hours away and the enhancements in Vanderbilt Stadium virtually complete, the most dramatic changes in the athletics facilities are now happening at Hawkins Field. Whitney D shares some photos of the work in progress, along with photos from the Founders Walk on Sunday.

Throughout the summer, the most easily visible signs of the upgrades to the athletics facilities at Vanderbilt have been the changes at Vanderbilt Stadium.

With the first home game of the football season only a week away, Phase 1 of the enhancements at Vanderbilt Stadium is almost complete. Phase 2 will wait until the end of the 2008 football season.

Now the visible changes are taking place at Hawkins Field. The scoreboard appeared in its new location in left field a couple of weeks ago. Even more recently, the permanent outfield bleachers have arisen behind the outfield walls.

And, lest we forget that Vanderbilt is a college in addition to being an athletic program, this week marked the beginning of the fall semester. The Founders Walk, the official welcoming of Vanderbilt freshmen and transfers to the campus, took place on Sunday.





Last Saturday, looking across Hawkins Field, the new bleachers in left field could be seen.




A closer look revealed that there's a tunnel leading into Memorial Gym behind the bleachers.




The pilings for the right field bleachers were in place in the parking lot along 25th Avenue.




On Sunday afternoon, Chancellor Nick Zeppos led the freshmen and transfer students in the Founders Walk along West End Avenue into the main entrance of the Vanderbilt campus.

For the first time, the freshmen entered campus with their "houses" in the new Commons on the Peabody campus, beginning with Crawford House.




Since she was on campus for the second summer semester, Jordan Coleman of the women's basketball team already has already had some college experience.



Sophomore Chanel Chisholm of the women's basketball team greeted Tia Gibbs, the other freshman on the team.




By Tuesday, despite the rains from the remnants of tropical storm Fay, the right field bleachers had begun to take shape.




The view from the Jess Neely Drive shows that there's still adequate access to Memorial Gym behind the bleachers.






This is the view from Memorial Gym along 25th Avenue looking towards Jess Neely Drive.




The view from the plaza at the southeast corner of Memorial Gym shows that the bleacher structure backs right up to the plaza.






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Photos copyright 2008 by Whitney D for VandyMania.com