Sat. Apr 20th, 2024

There’s the Buckingham Palace, the Taj Mahal, and then there is Deerfield’s own Bewkes House. Katie Walker ’10 resides in what the inhabitants call “the palace.”

Her room used to be dorm resident and math teacher Pamela Bonanno’s office before the house was converted into a dorm. Walker has two huge windows on either wall, a porch, high ceilings, hard wood floors, a fireplace, a small couch against one wall and two built-in shelves on either side of her desk.

Walker’s additions to the décor only add to the room’s splendor. She has four large blown-up photos of her friends covering the empty wall space, two paintings resting on the symmetrical shelves, and an enormous beach scene poster curving around the wall above her bed. A circular pink rug in the center of her room warms the polished wooden floors. She has moved her desk on the opposite side of the room to block the boarded up fire place.

Walker has plans to make use of her porch: “We have decided to establish a Bewkes dorm lemonade stand” named “From Your Suite,” she said. She also has ambitions for setting up a grilling station with John Zurlo ’10.

“I have the biggest single and the best room on campus,” boasted Walker, adding, “my room was a total surprise; I had no idea I would be getting something like this.” Despite her own good fortune, she assumes the room will be converted into a double.