Smith looks to CSCCs future

Infrastructure upgrades, including a $2 million heating and cooling system, are among future plans Columbia State Community College officials presented to the Columbia City Council Thursday.

These improvements and the colleges accomplishments in the past year were the focus of a presentation given by president Janet Smith at Thursdays regular meeting of Columbia City Council.

The college has undergone heavy renovations and improvements over the past year and Smith said it is eying next to install a complete HVAC update to the Warf building, which is currently in the planning stage and will cost $2 million.

It has been three years in the process of obtaining the funds, well, its been longer than that so now we have enough to do the whole project and we will start as soon as we can get folks out after graduation, she said. And they will have to work very hard because weve got to get back in there in August for all of the new students that we expect.

Other projects the college is hoping to tackle in the next year include renovations of the library, Walters building and health services building. It also hopes to construct a new health sciences building.

Smith delved into other various campus programs, improvements and upgrades to facilities, including a $45,000 renovation to the Cherry Theatre, $133,000 renovation to Ledbetter Auditorium and a $2 million project to renovate Jones Student Center, which will have a ribbon cutting in the next few weeks.

Statues donated from former president Rebecca Hawkins have been another way Columbia State has worked to upgrade the look of the campus.

The key is a symbol the college has been using as a motivation point to students and the community as being vital to its development, Smith said.

We are a key to the lives of many individuals, we are a key to where they are going, were a key to our communities and to the economic development. We are also a key to the state achieving its goal and to increase the education level throughout the state, Smith said.

Smith also paid focus to the various clubs, organizations and civic groups that she said have helped encourage not only student involvement, but involvement from the community as well.

Read the original:
Smith looks to CSCCs future