The Truman State University Student Senate is currently working on turning the pit outside Pickler Memorial Library into a welcoming place for the community.
In years past, the pit was used as a gathering place for students on campus, but was only recently closed off because of drainage. Senior Kyra Cooper, Student Senate president, asked the Physical Plant if the pit could be reopened and has since been working with Student Senate members to transform it into another hidden gem on campus.
“We were looking at different underutilized areas on campus,” Cooper said. “Here, at Truman, we don’t quite have as much [permanent art]. We get those little art projects that pop up that the introduction to sculptures classes do every semester, but we don’t really have any permanent displays of art, and we thought one of the areas that could really use that is the pit.”
Senior Sarah Holtmeyer, Student Senate vice president, said the Senate wants to create an area on campus to serve as a welcoming space for current and incoming students to hang out and enjoy fellow students’ art.
Cooper and Holtmeyer said the Student Senate is collaborating with the sculpture and ceramics classes on campus to put student art in the space. The Senate plans for the ceramics class to contribute small pieces each year to continually add art in the pit, creating a sort of mosaic.
The Senate is hoping to complete its project by the end of the semester, once both the sculpture and ceramics classes have finished their art work. The pieces will stay in the pit and continue to be supplemented by future Truman students in upcoming years.