Students use atrium for study and fun

Brad Steeves, director of operations in the Council of Health Science Deans office, said students filtered into the five-story light-filled atrium before the holiday break, taking advantage of the comfortable seating and the writable walls. Steeves explained that white boards line the collaborative spaces on each floor and at the end of day, were covered in notes, drawings and formulas.

But, as soon as the studying was done, the fun began. Steeves said he ran across one group of students throwing tennis balls back and forth to each other from balconies high above the atrium floor. "I guess it was kind of a stress reliever," he said.

Then, one morning, dozens of paper airplanes were found scattered across the atrium floor with one firmly stuck in the acoustic panels on the walls between the third and fourth floors. "I guess they're trying to make history, like in Thorvaldson 271," said Steeves, referring to what is often called the Airplane Room, a reference to all of the paper darts stuck in the ceiling tiles.