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Ceremonial shovels broke ground indoors on March 31
By Alexis Mitchell
On March 31, a groundbreaking ceremony was held in the Davis St. building for the new college of business (COB) and student life center building that is currently under construction. The building will sit across the street from the Davis St. building and is scheduled to be finished by August of 2017.
Initially, the ceremony was to be held on the actual grounds where construction was taking place. Due to the weather, a trough of dirt was brought indoors so that the ceremonial shovels could break ground.
At the beginning of the ceremony, Nick Thompson, a senior at UF stood at the podium in front of the large crowd to talk a little bit about his experience at UF and to introduce the next speaker, Emma Geis. Geis said the blessing and then introduced President Fell.
Next, A.R. Charnes was introduced to the podium to speak. Charnes talked about his own experience at UF as a business major, and how much he thinks this new building will benefit the entire university.
“We are grateful that so many have seen the vision of how we want the University of Findlay to continue to succeed,” said Charnes.
COB donors and UF officials broke ground wearing Findlay-orange hardhats.
Many students attended this ceremony, some were business majors, like Brody Yingling. One thing that Yingling is excited about is everyone coming together to make this new addition to campus happen.
“I’m excited when the communities come together and we have a lot of support from different donors,” said Yingling, “I’m almost more excited about what the symbolism and what will come through that building not necessarily the building itself.”
Even students who are graduating soon and will not be here to experience the new COB building are excited about it.
“I think it will be nice to come back as an alum and see the university grow and expand in different ways,” said Nathan Wheeler, a senior at UF.
President Fell is happy to have this opportunity for a space on campus to be cutting edge, 21st century, and a place where students will be inspired to learn the minute they walk up to the building.
“The space will be designed so that they can collaborate with one another, collaborate with their faculty members, think creatively, share creative ideas, they’ll be given opportunities for leadership within this building. I think that is finally the key to whether it was worth it,” said Dr. Fell.
What students can expect from the new COB building is not only a great new space for business majors, but a place for all majors to come together and learn, and to enjoy their time here on campus.
“487 days until we can move in. It will be a turning point,” said Kevin Renshler, COB dean.
