The Colorado Mesa University (CMU) Center for Reflection has begun construction, after planning and early concepts were ironed out earlier in 2020.

“The purpose it serves, really is as the title says, a place for students to go and reflect,” CMU President Tim Foster said. “Whether I want to just reflect and have some quiet time, or whether I want to go connect with a higher being, or just simply think.”

Though construction has only just begun, the $1.5 million Center for Reflection is likely going to be finished before the end of the year, in November or December.

Due to the Center for Reflection opening so soon, Foster and his team have already pondered how to operate the Center for Reflection in the age of COVID-19.

“It’s going to be operating the same way that other spaces are, which is telling people that unless you’re with somebody that is of your family unit [. . .] then you need to stay socially distanced, obviously you want to wear a mask because it’s indoors, a closed space,” Foster said. “But, like most places, we don’t have people walking around quizzing folks and separating them with a yardstick, so I think it will be much like that.

The new restrictions that will likely be in place due to COVID-19, however, should not impact the Center for Reflection due to its unique purpose to cater to an individual experience.

“It’s designed to not have any sort of celebration or any sort of formal. It’s really designed for students to go in, whether it be to sit, kneel, sit on the floor, sit on the rug [. . .] however, you want to go and whatever you want to do, and just have a personal moment,” Foster said.

In addition to the building itself, the surrounding environment of the Center for Reflection is designed for the same purpose.

“We don’t want to just focus on the building, because there will be this very quiet field, and there is going to be sort of a grotto,” Foster said. “The field and the whole thing is going to be more impactful than just the building.”