In the Spring Semester of the 2024-25 school year, news broke that Villanova Dining Services would be undergoing a major change: the Belle Aire Terrace and Connelly Center convenience store would be replaced with a Wawa, as well as the Nova Noodle Company and Sushi-Do stations.
There have been mixed reactions to this renovation of the student center, with some appreciating the late-night option of Wawa, especially given the ubiquity of Wawa in Pennsylvania, where many students are from. On the other hand, some students strongly dislike the new dining addition.
“Conn used to be a great location for studying and hanging out with friends,” sophomore Korin Kohen said. “It had a warm atmosphere where I felt like I could focus but also socialize. Wawa definitely doesn’t have that same atmosphere, since it is modeled after a gas station.”
Students also feel like Wawa reduced the utility of meal plans, as traditional MPEs or meal swipes cannot be used to purchase anything at Wawa, only NovaBucks and points.
“I feel like my meal plan isn’t as valuable as it was last year since I can’t use meal swipes at Wawa,” sophomore Reagan Kliber said. “It makes my meal plan feel like a waste of money.”
Villanova Dining Services have recently attempted to remedy this problem, as student complaints have been raised since before the renovation began. In Dougherty Hall, the primary Main Campus dining hall more commonly known as “Pit” to students, a Belle Aire copycat station has been introduced.
Located next to the “Traditions” station, it features grilled chicken, rice and green beans, the three main staples that Belle Aire offered on a daily basis.
While it is missing the sweet potato fries, regular French fries and breaded chicken tenders also consistently offered at Belle Aire, it is a step towards the consistency that was offered. However, students have had mixed reactions to this renovation.
“It isn’t consistent, and the chicken isn’t always the same chicken that was offered at Belle Aire, especially in the beginning,” Kohen said. “I could go to Belle Aire at any time of the day any day, but the new station is only open at lunch some days, and other days not at all. It is good that the school listened to what the students wanted, but there is definitely more that could be done and absolutely room for improvement.”
As Kohen remarked, the new station is not as available as Belle Aire Terrace was with its continuous service until 10 p.m. every day, including weekends, and the new station follows the Dougherty Dining schedule, which includes mid-afternoon closures and a hard close every evening at 8 p.m.
Additionally, the station isn’t even open for all of Dougherty Hall’s hours.
“I loved the old Belle Aire,” sophomore Mia Loughlin said. “This new station is definitely not as good as it used to be. It’s fine, but it has changed for the worse.”
While there remain much needed tweaks to this replica of Belle Aire, from the meal itself to its logistics of service, it is certainly a beneficial improvement on campus.
Students can use meal swipes instead of needing to use points, NovaBucks or regular currency for this option, partially remedying the issue of one less meal plan friendly dining service with the introduction of Wawa, as well as offering a more consistent and generally reliable dining service for students.
As students adjust to the new elements of campus they came back to this semester, there is a lot of refining and compromising to be done. Hopefully, Dining Services will continue to improve this dining option to meet the needs of busy students and students can begin to recognize those efforts.
