Preliminary drawings of the new dining hall showcase an expanded servery area.
By Adrian Torres ’25
In the spring of 2025, the Choate community can expect a new servery in the Hill House dining hall more than three times its current size. Years in the making, the new servery will concentrate the food serving stations in one area, make space for an expanded menu, and ease the SAGE Dining Services team’s food replenishment process. These changes will allow for more efficient use and movement within the dining hall by containing lines within the servery.
During School Meeting on October 17, 2023, Head of School Dr. Alex Curtis announced the details of the renovations to the dining hall, sharing the School’s goal of improving student wellness and the overall dining hall experience.
The limitations of the dining hall’s current structure became increasingly obvious, especially after the shift in the student daily schedule to ensure greater opportunity for all students to have a satisfying lunch break during the 2017-2018 school year. “We realized at that point it wasn’t well organized. It was too small, and it was hard to restock the space as well,” Dr. Curtis said. “It’s also very hard to see what’s on offer.”
To begin the renovation process, architects from Bowie Gridley were given data from surveys collected by the Dining Hall Committee made up of student representatives, SAGE workers, and faculty representatives. Then, the architects created initial designs for the new space to address the identified issues. On top of the expanded servery from 1,500 to 4,850 square feet, the new design included improved appliances, such as a new dishwasher, upgrades to SAGE’s facilities and ability to restock food, maximized natural light from windows in the servery, and a wider array of allergen-aware and general food options. “We have a diverse community of a lot of international students, and so a lot of people with foods that they’re used to from home,” Dr. Curtis said. “We wanted to have those more regularly or just more of them and more options by having much more serving space.”
After presenting their initial design to the community in the spring of 2023, the Administration made significant changes to incorporate feedback from the School. These included considering the use of the dining hall’s side entrance by Steele Hall and adjusting the internal arrangement of the servery to ensure space for people to move around comfortably. Considering “efficiency of the space and ease of use for students and adults,” Dr. Curtis said the new servery will have more space for lines to form. It will also have a salad bar in the center that can be replenished from the inside while diners are still filling their plates.
Students are looking forward to the renovations and their potential to solve the dining hall’s issues. “I’m excited for the renovations,” Ransom Albertson ’26 said. “I think that the dining hall we have now is a little small, and I think the renovations to the space will make things a lot more accessible.” Leo Wei ’27 echoed his sentiment, saying: “Lines get long, and more food choices and variety would definitely be nice.”
Faculty are also hopeful for what the renovations will bring to the student and staff experiences. “I am excited that the servery will have more options for kids [and] that the SAGE team that works in our dining hall will have conditions that allow them to do even better work,” Head of Student and Academic Life Ms. Jenny Elliott said. “I hope it will lead to healthier eating patterns and habits.”
Some considered the aesthetic upgrade the renovations would allow. “The afternoon light in the southwest area is so nice, and I’m looking forward to there being more windows in the actual servery area and also getting some of that light in other places,” Math teacher Mr. Jeremy Oliver said.
To begin the construction process, the School worked with several commissions and boards of the town of Wallingford to receive the appropriate approvals and the necessary permits. They also resolved the logistical issues around moving the utility lines for Hill House and St. John Hall, so that construction would not interfere with electricity, water, sewage, and telecommunication. During the fall term this year, construction workers laid the foundation for the expanded servery before pausing for the winter term. During the spring term, construction will continue with building the outer wall of the expanded servery while the dining hall is in use; interior renovations will begin when the school year ends in June. The construction will continue through the fall and winter terms of the 2024-2025 academic year, and the new servery is expected to open in the spring of 2025.
While the Hill House dining hall is closed for construction next fall and winter, the old Student Activities Center (SAC) will serve as a temporary dining hall for the Choate community. The old SAC building has been vacant since the SAC moved to St. John Hall in April of 2017, so the building is being cleaned and prepared for use in the new school year.
Temporary kitchens will be constructed in the parking lot for SAGE to prepare food in, which will then be served in a servery in the old SAC. The building will support most of the same stations currently available in the dining hall and offer the same amount of food. Seating, consisting of tables on the lower level, main floor, and top floor, is expected to hold more students than the Hill House dining hall. “We’ll do the best to make it as excellent as it can be, but if it’s not the same, we’ll work and bear with it because the benefit in the long run will be great,” Dr. Curtis said.
Some students are slightly apprehensive about dining in the old SAC. “I’m a little skeptical, to be honest,” Albertson said. “I’ve never been in it, I’m not sure what the space is like … Maybe it’ll be a welcome change until the new servery’s complete.”
These dining hall renovations are part of a larger project to promote student wellness and accessibility to food, which includes the Lanphier Cafe in Lanphier Center and the Tuck Shop.
“[We are] generally trying to make sure that we have food accessible to students that will allow them to be their healthiest selves and support a healthy pace of life for students,” Dr. Curtis said. “Right now getting your food is too difficult, too stressful, [and] too time-consuming, and I think if we can address those things, make that efficient, and dare I say enjoyable, that would be a great thing.”
