Kell Conference Center upgrade marked with ribbon-cutting ceremony

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Tonnette Thompson
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  The Kell Conference Center, location of just about every base function hosted by the Sheppard Club, has undergone a renovation, and the ceremony that marked its reopening - and featured the unusual invocation - took place June 21.

The once dark, grayish room now boasts a fresh coat of brighter paint, 80 ceiling light fixtures and 12 ceiling fans. It also has 6,800 square feet of new ceiling tiles, new storage areas, a refurbished stage and waiter stations, new stage lights and a multimedia control booth for audio-visual personnel who assist with the room's many events. The renovation is topped off with a large drop-down projection screen, and two LCD flat screen monitors, with additional screens still on the way.

"Every week of every month, this room hosts promotion ceremonies, retirement ceremonies, banquets, luncheons. There's hardly an event on this base that isn't recognized in this room," said 82nd Training Wing Commander Brig. Gen. Richard Devereaux. "For the sake of fantastic first impressions, it is crucial to present this room, this club, as a high-quality facility."

It was 82nd TRW command chief Chief Master Sgt. Jeannie McLean who challenged 82nd Civil Engineer Squadron operations flight commander Maj. Larry Harris to turn the idea of a "high-quality facility" into a reality.

"I have multi-skilled, multi-talented engineers jumping at the chance to perform repair work across the base," Major Harris said.

It was a team of 82nd CES carpenters and electricians that spent three weeks tearing down the room to its ceiling wires and rebuilding it into the multifunctional audio/video conference room and ballroom it is today.

"This just goes to show what a few good men and women can achieve when put to the test. We accomplished in 21 days what would have taken a contract operation several months to accomplish," said 82nd CES Master Sgt. David Ortiz, project manager.

Between the project completion and the reopening ceremony, events have already been hosted in the busy room, most notably the Army Ball held June 16 to mark the United States Army's 232nd birthday.