“Being at Brody Neighborhood is not boring,” Kendra Skinner said. “I love walking this place. Opening last year was the most fun I’ve had in ages because it was so exciting and vibrant.”
A staff member of Michigan State University for almost 10 years, Skinner spent the last year as the guest services manager of Brody Neighborhood. She recently moved to East Neighborhood to become the guest services manager there.
As the former guest services manager, Skinner was in charge of all residence hall service centers. She oversaw some of Brody’s largest renovations since being built in the 1950s. But right now, she and her staff are busy preparing the halls for the return of students.
“From the beginning of August until we actually throw our doors open and bring everybody back in, we’re doing all the planning and scheduling,” Skinner said.
While two residence halls have been renovated and a third, Armstrong, will soon be renovated, the biggest changes are happening at Brody Hall. It is the only one of MSU’s six neighborhoods to have joined the city of East Lansing’s water system.
But perhaps most impressive is the renovation of the neighborhood’s cafeteria – the largest non-military cafeteria in the world – which is housed in Brody.
“That big old cafeteria – it was huge, loud and chaotic,” Skinner said. “But now we’re ready to unveil this brand-new, thousand-seat Brody Square venue.”
Brody Square features nine new food venues, including Cayenne’s southwest cuisine; Pangea, which offers international foods; Veg Out, which has vegetarian and vegan options; Dolce, which has ice cream and smoothies; Ciao, which has pizza and pasta; and Brimstone, which has burgers and chicken. There is also a demonstration kitchen.
Brody Square hosts various styles of booths, open seating and bar seating and has numerous flat-screen TVs throughout.
“Brody has this image of being so far away from everything, but we’re hoping the renovations bring people in,” Skinner said. “The new cafeteria is amazingly gorgeous.”
Brody Square opened Aug. 25 and its grand opening will take place this fall. In the meantime, students returning to campus – and their parents – will experience the new cafeteria for the first time.
Skinner said many parents with whom she talks during fall move-in also lived in Brody and still get together with the friends they met there.
“They’re so happy their child was placed here, and they have all these great memories,” Skinner said. “And I would really like the people who loved and lived in Brody continue to spread the word that this was an awesome place to be.”
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