West Akron girl takes home piece of UA history
Alexandra Wainwright is shown
seated with a brick from the original Buchtel Hall at
The University of Akron. President Luis Proenza, shown
at right with Christine and Martin Wainwright, gave
the brick to Alexandra after she researched the building
for a school project.
By Kathleen Folkerth
DOWNTOWN AKRON — Alexandra Wainwright has a piece of history to call her own, thanks to The University of Akron (UA).
Alexandra, a third-grade student at King Elementary School in West Akron, recently received a brick from the original Buchtel Hall on the UA
campus from President Luis Proenza after she did a project on the historic building.
Alexandra and her parents, Martin and Christine, met Proenza in his Buchtel Hall office April 4.
When Alexandra’s class did a project on historic buildings in Akron, she picked the building on campus that currently houses the president’s office and staff. She said she chose the building because her parents both work on campus — Martin is an associate history professor and Christine is a part-time faculty member, also in the history department.
The King students were required to write a report and create a model of the historic building they chose for their project. Christine Wainwright said Alexandra made her model out of cardboard boxes.
Alexandra said she learned a
lot doing the project, such as the fact that Buchtel
Hall has been the site of two fires. The first, in 1899,
destroyed the original building. It was rebuilt,
but gutted by fire in 1971. It reopened in 1973.
The Wainwrights were happy to see that Proenza, whom they’ve met before, took the time to communicate with Alexandra regarding the project.
“She wrote an e-mail to him asking what it was like to work in Buchtel Hall, and he took the time to respond,” Christine Wainwright said.
Proenza said he enjoys hearing from students like Alexandra.
“I enjoy getting notes
of interest about the university
from school children,” he said. “When she
sent me a copy of her report, I thought it would be
nice to invite her here to see the building.”
Proenza said bricks from the
original Buchtel Hall were unearthed during an excavation
project some years ago.
“I thought it would be
appropriate to give her a gift from the original building,”
Proenza said.
On their visit last week, Proenza
sat and talked with Alexandra for a while and gave her
a tour of the building.
When school resumes after spring
break, Alexandra said she plans to share her experience
with her classmates.
“I’ll probably bring
the brick to school,” she said. “Then I’ll
keep it at home.”
King Elementary School student
Alexandra Wainwright shows University of Akron President
Luis Proenza her model of the original Buchtel Hall.
Photos courtesy of The University of Akron
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