Construction of New Athletic Field Begins This Week at Washington Adventist University

by Monte Sahlin

By AT News Team, April 6, 2014
 
Construction of a new athletic field is scheduled to begin this week at Washington Adventist University (WAU) in the Takoma Park, Maryland, suburb of the United States capital city. Montgomery County approved the building permit last week, according to the Montgomery Gazette. The project will be completed by summer.
 
Artificial turf will be installed to provide a space that can be used in all seasons of the year for soccer games, intramural sports and a variety of other activities. "We plan on using this space as part of our community outreach," Angie Crews, from the university's communication office, told the local newspaper.
 
WAU is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and fields teams in Division 2 in baseball, softball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's soccer and men's and women's vollyball. Adventist Today has been told that it has the strongest athletic program among Adventist colleges and universities in the U.S.
 
A number of new facilities and upgrades have been implemented at WAU over the past five years, including a new $6.3 million music building, a $1.1 activities center, a $1.2 million renovation of the dining room, new sidewalks on campus, new steps at the entrance to H.M.S. Richards Hall, new furniture for the dormitories, new flooring and furniture in a number of classrooms and new lockers in the gym. All of this is part of the university's Vision 2020 master plan.
 
The university will celebrate its 110th anniversary this year. It began in 1904 as Washington Missionary Institute with a small number of male students living temporarily in tents as they worked on construction of the original buildings.
 
WAU operates a radio station that has the largest verified listening audience of any media ministry in the Adventist denomination. It shares a campus with Washington Adventist Hospital and has strong programs in nursing and other health-related professions as well as the largest pre-law program of any Adventist higher education institution in the U.S.