by Sheri Block
the Carillon

Major renovations are in the works for Campion College in an attempt to make the federated college more accessible and inviting to students.

Some of the most noticeable changes to the college will be the move of the admissions and communications offices that currently reside on the fourth floor down to the third floor and the revamping of the first floor lounge and cafeteria area.

³Weıre really centralizing the administration on the third floor so that itıs much more accessible to the students,² said Fred Marcia, Executive Director of Administrative Services at Campion College. ³It is so students donıt have to be running from floor to floor. They can come and do all the things they need to do on the third floor.²

The student counseling area will remain on the third floor with new computers for students needing to access their accounts and schedules on-line. The large classroom located on the third level will be turned into a ³smart² classroom with multi-media access.

On the main floor a larger lounge area will be created in the cafeteria area along with a new food establishment. Walls will be knocked down and a brighter, more spacious foyer will replace the current closed in entrance.

The foyer will display a sculpture created by Campion Alumnus, Chris St. Amand. The hanging sculpture will be backlit and its shadow will fall down onto the map design of the foyer floor.

³It will be quite a different introduction than coming in as we have in the past and seen what was going on in the kitchen or maintenance room,² said Dr. Joseph Schner, President of Campion College.

Student response to the renovations have been positive.

³Studying wise, it will feel like a warmer place because it will be more aesthetically pleasing,² said Alvil Tayco, a second year Campion Computer Science Student. ³It will make non Campion students as well as Campion students enjoy the surroundings and be able to relax more when studying in Campion.²

Campionıs second floor entrance was originally supposed to be the main entrance when the building was designed.

³When the college was built it was built with the intention that all the buildings on campus would be joined and the podiums that wrap around the college were to be upper level access to all buildings,² explained Marcia. ³Our main entrance is actually our second floor.

Unfortunately [this plan] never materialized so weıve never used that as a main entrance. Weıve always used the Œback doorı as our main entrance so itıs not very inviting or appealing.²

The Campion College Student Association (CCSA) office will also be moved down to the main floor so it is more accessible to Campion students.

³Itıs a major improvement for the CCSA because weıll be much more visible as a student organization and hopefully become much more active in student affairs,² said Chris Juchacz, Student Body President of Campion College and Board of Director for Campion at the Studentıs Union. ³Currently our office is located on the fourth floor which limits the amount of student input we get.²

³It will probably attract more students to come and apply to the university through Campion College instead of through other places,² said Chris Eirich, a first year Campion Science student. ³They get to use resources they have at Campion and the counselors and other things that are beneficial to first year students especially.²

The Millennium Renewal Campaign is the first of the collegeıs annual campaigns to raise revenue to pay for the renovations on the first floor. The third floor renovations, which will house the new Loretta Leibel Student Centre, have been funded by two prior campaigns initiated by the college.

Fundraising for the college comes primarily from donations by donors, faculty, staff and friends of the college.

The government has been approached but have declined to financially assist the college with its renovations according to Marcia.

An internal committee was established that worked with outside design and construction individuals to plan the renovations. Faculty, staff and students also made up this committee.

³One of the reasons we started the renovations was that we felt we wanted to make the college a lot more welcoming, a lot more open to students at the university,² said Schner. ³I would hope that people would feel welcome here and want to come and be part of the community and part of the studentıs association.

³The physical part is only one part, itıs the people part thatıs the other part , so we try and complement with both of them.

³We want to create a more community atmosphere and we hope this will encourage more students to spend their off-time between classes here,² said Juchacz. ³It changes it from a dark and stagnant atmosphere to, hopefully, a more vibrant culture that will grow at Campion.²

Melissa Thomson, a 2nd year Fine Arts student says the plans look good and that she will be more willing to spend her breaks at Campion once the renovations are completed.

³It looks like a nice place. Iıd like it because itıs small, kind of like the Cafe De Lys. The University Centre gets really busy.²

According to Marcia construction will start in May and should be completed for the start of fall classes in September of this year. Improvements to the mechanical system are also being completed.

³More than anything weıre opening Campion College up to our students to make it much more inviting for them, to feel theyıre at home and that they can come here and be comfortable,² said Marcia.