As a testament to this year's theme of Completing the Vision...Beginning the Dream, Hammond opened the doors to Barks Hall on April 18, 2006.

Following a relatively smooth eight-month construction period, teachers and students were the first to occupy the "New Face" of Hammond's campus. The official dedication ceremony for Barks Hall will begin at 1:45 P.M. on Thursday May 4th once the administrative offices have moved in and all of the finishing touches are expected to be complete.

The board and administration decided to build a "new face" for the campus when it became apparent that the former Rutledge building would require major structural work beyond that which was done to Manning Hall this past summer.

"It's nicer than any other building on campus," says Willy Bruenner, senior '06, "...it really makes the entrance of our school look much better." Students and faculty across campus agree. "Barks Hall is the perfect image or icon of the school’s academic caliber."
says Carson Strohecker, Hammond faculty and alumnus, "(We) now have a building that allows each constituency to excel in their respective roles. And its completion is perfect; we’re out of the trailers just in time for hurricane season!"

There are many wonderful details that make Barks Hall the beautiful and yet practical space that it is. Some of the highlights are 18,677 total square feet, 9 state of the art classrooms, 1 additional computer lab equipped with twenty new workstations and 1 multimedia conference room.