30th Anniversary History Book

the Everglades, St. Augustine, and other Florida hotspots. A student-driven yearbook committee formed in 1992, and by 1994 the primordial club scene emerged. From 1994-1998, a Beacon track team competed in events throughout Lake County and Central Florida, Brodbeck said. For students with an outdoorsman spirit, an Outdoor Recreational Club sponsored weekend camping trips. For students bit by the acting bug, a star of a club was born: the Drama Club, featuring the “Beacon Players,” performed “Every Family Has One.” Drama Club, by 1999, evolved into the Performance Club, Brodbeck said, which performed works such as “A Night with Tennessee” (featuring excerpts from Tennessee Williams’ plays), “The Night of the Iguana,” and “The Glass Menagerie.” Perhaps the most celebrated club in those years was the Culture Club. Formed in 1999, the club’s mission was exposing students to fine dining, theater, ballet, opera and other “cultural events.” In 2004, Florida Leader Magazine named it the “Best College Club of 2004.” Between 2000-2002, more students with athletic interests roamed the campus. That led to a golf club, a basketball club, and the growth of Beacon’s tennis club. That love of athletics and fitness is something current students inherited — but with a greater abundance of facilities and extracurricular activities. Today, there’s the Fitness Center, which offers classes like Zumba, yoga and karate; sports clubs including traveling tennis, basketball and flag football teams; and outdoor adventures including paintball, hiking, camping and ziplining. Located in

the city’s former train depot, the Fitness Center was leased in 2013 and renovated by the college, and opened in 2015. During the last five years, Beacon has enhanced the character and variety of on-campus housing options during a period of sustained enrollment growth. In the spring 2018, the college completed construction of its first dormitory-style student residence, Resnick Alpern Plung (RAP) Hall. Designed primarily for freshmen, the residence consists of single rooms in five-room “suites.” The college also operates three other residential communities: Beacon Village Apartments (opened in 2003); Woodward Apartments (2012); and Beacon Commons (2015). A new student residence of 100 beds (similar in construction and layout to RAP Hall) has been approved by the board of trustees, received financing, and is scheduled to be completed by August 2020. This kind of campus life was unimaginable to Beacon’s early graduates. “There was only a very small student center,” recalls 1992 graduate Grace McDonough, a special- education teacher’s assistant in Glendale, Calif. “They didn’t even have clubs back then. There was just one apartment building, a small house that had about eight women; an admissions office; the old cafeteria; and a very small library. No sports at all.” Beacon College had opened with 36 students in May 1989, leasing the D’Addario (previously known as the Hood House) and Stoer buildings in downtown Leesburg.

The Hood House

The D’Addario (née Hood House) Building

The Stoer House

The Stoer Building

PAGE 47