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Campus News
The Clarion \ August 25, 2017
New student center
brings excitement
By Jessica Wiegandt
Arts & Life Editor
Jones Library was renovated over the summer
and now features new furniture, new office and
meeting space and a new Academic Enrichment
Center—all part of what is now called the Expe
riential Learning Commons.
With the AEC moving into the library, its
old location in Coltrane is being transformed a
Student Center.
“Those who operated in the AEC space now
work in the ELC, which has encompassed all of
the previously-known AEC and has expanded
into a library resource,” associate dean of stu
dents Michael Cohen said. “So normally when
someone says ‘ELC’ it is associated with that
subset of services [tutoring and student men
tors] that were in the AEC but it also includes
the entire library and academic services inside.”
Campus Life has many ideas for what to place
in the Student Center, including a miniature
theater wall, equipped with a speaker system
and a projector for movies, a video game room
and Ping-Pong tables.
While Campus Life has a plan for what to
include in the Student Center, Cohen said they
still are looking for suggestions. “We really want
students to give us some feedback, especially
during this process as we prepare the center to
open,” Cohen said. “It’ll be a multipurpose space
that can be converted for meetings, Ping-Pong
or video game tournaments, movies or for club
space.” The Student Government Association
will have an office in the Student Center and
clubs will have a space to convene for meetings
or to place equipment in shelves and cubbies.
Cohen said video games and board games will
be available to check out when the center opens.
There will also be outdoor equipment available
to check out at the front circulation desk within
the Student Center. “We still have to figure out
some logistics with the outdoor equipment,” Co
hen said, “Like, what if a student wants to return
a boat after hours or lost a paddle on a trip.... We
need to determine how the process will work.”
The center will feature student life here on
campus, including art and photography by stu
dents and also pictures of students participating
in various school events. Cohen said he would
like for a student-designed mural to be painted
on the wall and eventually have the entire center
decorated by students.
International flags representing all the coun
tries that make up the BC student body will hang
in the center. “They [international students] walk
with these flags for graduation and they represent
who we are as a campus community,” Cohen
said. “It’ll be nice to have that represented in
this common space as well.”
Along with SGA having an office, the Campus
Aetivities Board office will move to the Student
Center. This allows for a consolidated location
of decision-making bodies on campus. SGA and
CAB will now be accessible in the office spaces
adjacent to Director of Housing Beth Abrams’
office. The security office will also move from
the basement of Jones to the Student Center
which will allow for a more centralized location
with more student interaction.
“We’re really excited for this,” Cohen said. “It
will take some time, but the good news is we
have the opportunity to collaborate with students
and make this center exactly what they want.”
Experiencing the Eclipse
By Amber Blanton
staff Writer
Seeing the night during the middle of the day
is a rare sight. But on Monday, Aug. 21, the
people in Brevard were able to experience the
totality of a solar eclipse. At approximately 2;37
pm, the moon moved between the sun and the
earth, giving us a breathtaking and exciting view.
In addition to local residents, many people
came long distances to catch a glimpse of the
eclipse. More than 10,000 people came from a
variety of places to get the perfect seat. They
fully booked hotels, crowded the streets, and
many found their way onto the college campus
to watch the afternoon unfold.
One such group of visitors, David Smith and
his family, travelled a little over three hours to
experience the totality of the eclipse here in
Brevard, Smith said, “My kids thought it was the
coolest thing ever,” he said. “We drove a long
way, and there were lots of people on the roads.
But I’d say the trip was definitely worth it.”
There were many families like the Smiths who
enjoyed coming out to see totality. But there
were also many students here at Brevard who
had some exciting things to report.
One student, Syerria Winters, was excited
about the chance to get out and meet some new
people as she watched the eclipse. “It was a very
breathtaking moment,” she said. “It was a once
in a lifetime experience that I'll never forget.”
Others, such as Madison Ramsey, were ex
cited about the great view that Brevard offered.
“All I had to do was lay back in my hammock,
and it was right there,” Ramsey said.
But the eclipse wasn’t the only exciting thing
that happened that day. Chris Center proposed to
Karissa Leazer, helping the day to be as remark
able and memorable as people expected it to be.
Some of the locals, however, felt the eclipse
was blown out of proportion, citing the increased
traffic flow as a major inconvience. They were
also astonished that people from so far away,
including Texas, New York, Ohio, and even
Los Angeles came to see what amounted to a
64-second event.
Despite this, many students gathered to ex
perience the totality together which helped to
foster a sense of community and friendship at
Brevard College.