Breaking Ground at Wolfson Campus
A groundbreaking ceremony for the new Student Support Center was held at Miami Dade College’s Wolfson Campus on Aug. 30.
“[This] marks a very important day in the history of the campus and the history of the college,” said Miami Dade College President, Eduardo J. Padrón.
The six-floor building is scheduled to open in 2013 at a cost of $25 million.
The building is designed to offer more services to students, and more facilities for student organizations to hold events.
Wolfson Campus President Mercedes Quiroga said the building will house classrooms, an indoor food court with grab-and-go stations, a modular space for performances and a state-of-the-art wellness center.
“[The building] is principally and above all something to provide greater amenities for students,” said Helen Aguirre Ferré, chair of the District Board of Trustees. “We don’t like the idea of [Miami Dade] being a commuter school.”
Student Life will occupy the entire third floor of the building.
“Everything is going to be huge, bigger, better,” said Teresa Reigosa, Wolfson Campus Student Life Director.
According to Reigosa, the new Student Life floor will have areas for independent study and large groups, a game room with pool and foosball tables, office space for 10 clubs, a new room for ID cards and a large multipurpose room with collapsible walls.
“Every research [study] that I read shows that the key to student success and student completion to avoid the dropout rate is student engagement,” Padrón said. “Those students that are engaged with their institution that are engaged with other students who have a sense of purpose, those students not only are retained but are successful people.”
Bernard Zyscovich, an MDC alumnus, designed the new building.
“I am always proud to see that we have enough confidence in our institution, in the nature and quality of our academic program to go ahead and give opportunity to our own alumni to be the ones who build this college,” Padrón said.
The building will also permanently house the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives, which are presently housed at the Main Library of the Miami-Dade Public Public Library System.
