Renovations begin this month to turn vacant regions within the IVCC campus into fully furnished areas in order to accommodate for student’s needs.

The project to create additions on the IVCC campus for student life areas began in approximately 2000, says vice president for business services and finance, Cheryl Roelfsema. After the idea was proposed the IVCC administration waited until 2010 for money to be released in order to move the project forward.

Construction is estimated to begin sometime during this week. Areas that will be renovated include the building C lobby on the main floor, the main floor of building E, as well as the lower level of building D. Due to construction there will be a few complications for students, such as certain entrances being closed off and noise issues. Roelfsema anticipates that the areas will be open for student usage in January 2016.

While the faculty admits that construction may cause temporary inconvenience, the creation of the student centers is seen as a much larger benefit for the future of IVCC. The student life center will be a designated area including offices for student organizations to hold meetings, large spaces for computers and other electronic devices, a kitchen, and even game rooms for students to take advantage of. Along with this, a cyber café will be constructed with refreshments offered by Country Catering. This space will too hold many tools for students to utilize on campus.

An EMS area is also being constructed as part of this project. Classrooms will be designed for Emergency Medical Service students consisting of labs and possible simulators.

The cost of this project comes out to roughly $2 million. Roelfsema believes that the benefits of these new additions will come to outweigh the price.

Weekly updates will start being posted in order to keep students aware of progress.