By Anthony Czelusniak
Motlow Buzz Staff Writer
SMYRNA, Tenn. – The new 80,000-square-foot building
will provide Motlow’s Smyrna campus with new classrooms, offices and more to
improve the educational experience available from Motlow State Community
College.
On
Friday (March 23), the groundbreaking
ceremony for the new building will make history. The building is expected
to take 18 months to complete and will be ready for the 2019 fall semester.
The third building will include a new library,
student lounge, bookstore and administrative offices. When it is completed, the
current bookstore will become the all-new Media Center. The Tutoring Center
will move from the Student Success Center in the Mary Lou Apple Building to a
renovated space within the Arthur L. Walker Jr. Building as well.
The brand-new classrooms will provide more
space for the expected record increases in student population. According to the
enrollment fact book provided by Motlow, student enrollment in the 2016 fall
semester was 5,144 throughout all the campuses, a growth rate of 11.1 percent
from the previous year. The Smyrna campus accounted for nearly half of that
population and growth.
Because of this population increase, educators
are struggling to find appropriate rooms for their classes. For example,
Professor John Hart teaches multiple literature classes in computer labs.
“As much as we love the second building, we
have outgrown it,” Hart said, sharing what the new building will mean to him
and his students. “We look forward to having more classes, offices and places
for students to study and socialize.”
A new student lounge will bring the
possibility of an outside food vendor to set up inside the building. This
possible addition will be great for students and staff who do not want to
travel, or do not have the ability to travel to the restaurants on nearby Sam
Ridley Parkway.
The new building will also bring with it
possibilities that haven’t been thought of yet. With more than 80,000 square
feet on three floors, there will be a lot of room for growth within Motlow’s
Smyrna campus.
Eventually, the campus will have five
state-of-the-art buildings surrounding acres of beautiful green space.
