Manicia Reneus
North Bureau Chief
North Campus’s new makeover is making a good first impression on students as they start off the new semester. Last summer, construction started on the campus with building 47. There has been much progress made so far. However, the campus will have more changes that will occur. As of today, the infrastructure of building 47 has changed to add 148 seats in the classrooms. By adding seats, students will be able to enroll into classes without worrying about classes being filled up quickly or being cramped up in a room.
“I think some of those classrooms really had a high school feel to it,” said John Dunnuck, Vice President of Operations.
The renovation that is taking place will give classrooms a modern appearance that will be seemly for college students. Say bye to those chalk boards because they have finally been replaced with dry erase boards.
“The colors are a nice change up,” said William Pierre who majors in biology. “It makes it feel more aligned with the rest of the campuses.”
The campus is already starting to have a fresh look with its new exterior palette that is being painted blue and grey. There have also been simple updates that have changed the interior of the facility upstairs in building 46.
“We feel that there is a lot of space that can better be utilized in that building for the students and everybody,” said Dunnuck.
Dunnuck believes that the new furniture will expand everyone’s options. For instance, the new furniture will be positioned in ways that allow students to sit alone with their laptop or they can sit with another person at a table. Ultimately, this will help the interaction between students and staff flow better. Additionally, the landscape has been modified. As students walk onto the main entrance, there are more greenery and benches in front of building 46.
“I get to take pictures and chill,” said Aaryon Florence who is a student majoring in nursing. Florence sat outside with her friends in the new outdoor sitting area in front of Student Life.
The new shaded outdoor sitting area has become a popular area for students. They are enjoying this space as they take a break between classes and catch up with friends. One of the seats has a charging outlet, which is convenient for students who need to charge their phones or laptops.
According to Dunnuck, the most requested improvement that students wanted on campus was nicer restrooms. In building 47, the water pressure was not able to get all the way up to the third floor. In order to fix the issue, boosters were added to help the water get through the pipes.
“Six months from now, you’re going to see a really big difference,” said Dunnuck.
One of the biggest projects that will be taking place on the campus is building 56 and 57. One of the reasons for the renovation and rebuilding is to better accommodate more students in classrooms. Since most of North Campus is about 40 years old, the classrooms do not properly suit students in today’s generation.
Furthermore, the two buildings will cost approximately $30 million to complete. However, the college is hopeful that the state legislature is going to be able to fund the new building and renovation. Fortunately for students, the college does not charge the maximum that they could to students when it comes to capital improvements. Every year, BC raises approximately $10 million to $11 million for construction.
Half of the funds for this year will go to make payments for the parking garage at Central and the science building on South Campus. In addition, $1 million will go to IT for technical purposes in the classrooms. Therefore, about $5 million is left to operate on BC campuses. This can be a challenge when trying to manage over 2 million square feet between campuses.
Despite the challenge, the board and senior management has recognized that there needs to be effort put into North Campus.
“If somebody has an idea of their own, I want to make sure that they understand that our door is open,” said Dunnuck.
Students can get their ideas out by attending the student forums at the Board of Trustees meetings that are held every spring semester.