The Concordian

Issue date: 2/4/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Steven Wilder Davis The Student Center Television Lounge has already been remodeled with with photography from around the campus and track lighting to highlight the pictures [Click to enlarge]

The old sign-making room now has new carpeting and new furniture and will soon serve as a welcoming center for prospective students and guests to the campus. [Click to enlarge]

While Concord students were at home enjoying the holiday recess, Concord staff and administration were collaborating to renovate several areas of The Jerry Beasley Student Center. Returning students may have noticed among other things - fresh paint in several areas, nicer decorations in the television lounge, and newly renovated offices within the building.

"There were a lot of things that happened either over the break or were started before the break that we finished in the first part of January," said Student Center Director Marshall Campbell, "and we're still working in a few areas. We all agreed that many of these changes needed to be made."
"It really is important that, when people walk into the building," Cambell continued, "that they know that we're proud of this place; that we want to show off some of the beauty we have on campus and some of the excellence of our students."

One of the larger works that is still in progress is the renovation and reassignment of the old student sign-making room outside the cafeteria by the information desk. Plans have been made and orders have been placed in order to turn the room into a newly refurbished welcome center with student ambassadors.
The room, which was formerly covered with paint spills on the walls and floors now has new carpet, new walls, new countertops, and tables that match the countertops.

"The idea is one that I have to give Dr. Aloia credit for," Campbell said. "We want to have an informational window there to provide visitors a place where they can sit in new furniture, talk to admissions, and have a sort of gateway to the rest of the university." Campbell also hopes that, within the new welcome room, student ambassadors can be hired to assist visitors and direct them throughout the campus.

Outside of the new welcome office there will be a new sitting area for students, guests, and prospective students to sit and relax amid on of Concord's busiest crossroads.

A flat screen television is already in place outside the soon-to-be welcome center, while an order for the rest of the furniture has already been placed. The shipment is expect to arrive towards the end of February.

The new sign-making room has been relocated to what used to be an old photo laboratory but has served as a very full storage room for several years. Near the Student Affairs Office, the soon-to-be room has new tiling on the floor but still has black walls from its former role as a photo lab..

Throughout the rest of the Student Center, more renovations have already taken place and more are still to come as the building's facelift continues.

Upon entering the front of the building, students and campus members will notice a fresh new coat of burgundy paint to replace the old light blue paint that had long been seen in the front entrance and in stairwells throughout the building.
"The 'electric blue' paint was not much to my liking and I think that Dr. Aloia agreed with me that it dated the building," Campbell said. "It has a 1960's feel to it and it had gotten worn out. We needed to freshen it up and if we're going to freshen it up then why not make it look good with the brick and along with the school colors," Campbell said.

The painting of the end stairwells is in progress and should be done within a few months, according to Campbell. Painting on the stairwell behind the Gameroom is roughly one third finished.
"I'm thrilled that the front stairwell is finished and that the others are being done as well," Campbell said.
Long term plans are also in the works to make changes to the Gameroom downstairs. The TV lounge outside the cafeteria has also seen recent improvements. New carpets were in place as of Thanksgiving just as the walls and the ceiling were being repainted. New lights, including track lighting, were put up in order to highlight some of the newer graphics near the room and along the halls.
"We took pictures of the university, and in the television lounge itself you have pictures of the campus beautiful and the other 4 pictures are the four seasons here on campus," Campbell said. "Along the hallway walls, we've got 8 pictures up of either the university or the students here, graduating, on campus, or in class," Campbell said, "I think they send a good message to our visitors and help the morale of the students."

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools

Open publication - Free publishing