by Owen Miklos ‘16
In older buildings, there always exist those places, those passageways that aren’t uncovered until some curious passerby looks at a doorway and ponders “I wonder where this leads…”, that can slip right under the eyes of the majority. Saint Ignatius is no exception to this fact, and there are more than a few such places that, in the minds of its student body, may as well not even exist.
Last spring, Mrs. Hruby left a note for Mr. McCafferty, instructing him to take her Honors English II class to the Science Mac Lab as a result of her absence. Excited murmurs arose among the intrigued sophomores when they learned of this change of plans for, despite daily passing the sign tacked to the Clavius Center’s second floor bulletin board demarcating the lab’s location in stark, bold letters, not one of these eager students had even been to this fabled classroom. And they were the lucky ones who had the opportunity. The unanimous opinion upon exiting the room was that it was the nicest lab in the school.
Other places aren’t quite as accessible. Take, for example, the golf simulator, located underneath the Rade stage. Admission means you have the game to play on the Ignatius golf team and the guts to talk Mr. Hess into providing you with the only key. Take heart, though, come Class Competition day, you could put all that time you spend in the weight room to good use and rip a 300-yard bomb during the long drive competition, which is held here.
Take also the Robotics Room, located on the fourth floor of the science building. Its only accessible via a doorway — typically locked during school hours — down the long hallway off of the third floor. Club members are evidently very protective of their secret room, so you’ll have to ask them what’s up there. They don’t allow access.
Countless Ignatius students have come and gone from the library, but few have noticed the room off in the back right corner. The door is extremely skinny, but those who are ever in a bind can ask Mrs. Streen to unlock the door for you. It remains locked for most of the time. Those who are juniors and seniors can remember the days where this room was open for use. Apparently, this is no longer the case.
Regardless if you know these locations like the back of your hand (and those people are out there), it’s not hard to realize that there’s more to Ignatius that meets the eye, and more locations that have hitherto slipped under the public’s notice.
