No summer break: Construction nears completion at GCC – The Daily News Online

'); //-->

BATAVIA Walking the hallways of the new Student Success Center, Genesee Community College officials wore bright yellow helmets.

The floors they walked on were carpeted the colleges gold and blue colors, leading through a wing of offices that serves as the home for a new success coaching model currently empty except for boxes of early-arriving furniture. Theyll be outfitted over the coming weeks, with dozens of college staff moving in by the end of June.

With the 2016-17 term less than two weeks past, and another academic year starting in August, there is both of a sense of tasks to complete and certainty of readiness as the colleges summer break continues with sounds of construction.

Weve always been on a time frame to have it up and running for students by July 3, said GCC Vice President of Finance and Operations Kevin Hamilton, noting that schedule has largely held. The nature of the college as a truly community school made it necessary.

We start earlier than most colleges, Hamilton said. Being a community school, students are coming in to pay their bills and bringing in their residency forms. Were helping them to finding a better schedule for their courses, the right campuses for them ... it really starts to pick up in a big way in the first week of August.

The first group of Japanese students joining GCC this year arrived Thursday, passing by the Student Success Center on a tour of the campus. Next year, it will the first stop.

A second-story presentation room was unadorned Thursday, but the wide-open view it offered of the nearby quad, theater and the rest of campus provides an obvious appeal.

Its designed to attract students into here, Hamilton said. Our real goal was to have it be a beacon of sorts. It was developed with these big windows, to be very apparent to students that this is where to go.

The new addition off the colleges main building, along with the Richard C. Call Arena, are very much still under construction, but the facilities have already transformed the look of the Batavia campus.

The wellness and events center stands alone across a field of pavement. Inside, the windowed-ceiling of the central fieldhouse looms over a floor of half-laid turf. Other than that project, its ready for equipment, students and events.

Were all very excited, but its the community thats been contacting us, said Marketing Communications Associate Director Donna Rae Sutherland, noting the college is already lining up a packed schedule. The Chamber is figuring how this space will be used, that one is beyond us.

Convocation will be held in the arena Sept. 12, a week after the donors that helped launch the $25 million capital project with more than $5 million in local support get their own tour. Homecoming weekend will be centered at the arena Sept. 22 and 23, with guest speakers being lined up along with conventions and sports tournaments.

For GCCs lacrosse teams, who traveled to Elma for indoor practice space, Hamilton said the arenas growth was watched intently.

This is a legit athletics facility, he said, and removes a weak point of the program. A vast weight room adds another space thats pulling excitement.

Inside the Success Center, the interest has been more internalized.

Staff members have filtered through a second-story enclosed walkway to inspect their future offices. A crew of seven success coaches, who have been building their program over the last semester, will be stationed along the far wall of offices, with advisors serving specialized departments located around a corner.

As they move into the new building, those of us who are staying are peeking around, Sutherland said. We can see where we are going to change existing spaces into new classrooms and labs, where we are going to develop new areas. Purposeful Additions

They key word, the key phrase, is student success.

Director of Development and External Affairs Richard Ensman sees the name of the new facility as both clear and important.

The role of the college of any college is to be committed to students. Very few, he said, have attempted to take it to this level.

Walking into a foyer that on Thursday had the outline of a lounge and a staircase rising with temporary boards as bannisters, students will be greeted by a five-station hub customer service desk.

You come into college and potentially, depending on your needs, you may have 75 to 80 different tasks or activities that you are responsible for, Ensman said. The traditional model of higher education has been to have departments and units that are each responsible for managing a specific functional area or service.

The college expects many students to only need to talk with their success coach a few times per semester, but those with a pile of questions or inhibiting circumstances it will be a building block.

Our coaches will be able to do all (the academic advisor roles), and provide basic financial aid and career resources. Theyll have a variety of things a student needs to be successful here.

Somewhere in the building, probably many places inside it, will be written Genesees slogan Beyond Expectations. Ensman said thats embodied by these projects, and these coaches.

As the building enters the final weeks of construction, at least the physical expectations are being met.

The hard hats are collected, the noise continues. Its summer at the college, and its time to work.

Read the original:
No summer break: Construction nears completion at GCC - The Daily News Online