If you’ve been in the English hall lately, you’ve probably noticed some improvements. The upper school English hall has gotten a fresh coat of paint, rearranged rooms and some updated furniture. You might also have noticed some new faculty members. With a new look and new teachers, it seems it is a time for new beginnings.

From the end of last school year and throughout the summer, the upper school English hall has made many changes.

“It’s much more vibrant than it was, and I think it’s creating a much different atmosphere,” Head of the English Department, John Cox, said.

In addition to new paint, teachers’ rooms were rearranged, adding new furniture from tables, desks and chairs with still more updates to come.

“We started talking about this mid-spring of last year, and it’s still not finished,” Cox said.

In addition to updated the English hall, the English department also gained three new faculty members: Sam Clark, Chloe Garth-Fielder and Melissa Smyly.

“It’s completely different, because I didn’t have just an English hall,” Smyly said when comparing her old school to Darlington. “ I think it makes it a really good beginning look for the school year, everything is fresh and crisp and it makes everything start off looking good.”

Teachers aren’t the only ones affected by the new changes, students have noticed the updates as well.

“Personally I think it’s lacking a bit of decoration, but the desks are amazing and it looks really clean,” junior Kathryn Chunn said.

The work to revitalize the English hall took effort from several different resources. Tiger Pride was an extremely helpful sponsor for the project, but support came from various groups on campus, especially the facilities department, who spent their entire summer making the project a reality.

“It was really a group effort, it was much more than just me,” Cox said.