Students are looking forward to the construction on campus being complete for several reasons, but do they know the reason behind the construction? The detours associated with the construction process have confused students in the past and still continues to do so.

Mark Gonzalez is a student who has been studying at LMC for four semesters and reports that he gets asked for directions often but has trouble being understood when he gives them. Gonzalez said, “This woman looked like she was new on campus and she asked me how to navigate through the college complex to her class. I tried my best to tell her how to go around the detours but she looked at me like I had no idea what I was talking about because the directions seemed so complex to her.”

Surprisingly, some students like Mark aren’t sure what to expect when the construction is done. Gonzalez said, “All I heard was that there would be a Student Service center but I’m not sure what that means.” Ashley Vail is a first semester student at LMC and also feels out of the loop about the construction process. She said, “It was confusing for me to find my classes when I first started this semester. I know that the construction is for a good cause, I’m just not one hundred percent sure what it is.”

LMC Vice President Kevin Horan oversees the construction process. Horan explained in an email interview what students can look forward to once the project is complete.

“The project will result in a centralized and modern space for the majority of student services and administration.  Students will have one physical location to go to for the following services: Welcome Center, Admission & Records, Financial Aid, Cashier, Disabled Student Programs & Services, Assessment, Counseling, EOPS/CARE/CALWorks, Counseling, Transfer Center, and the Career Center,” explained Horan.

The construction detours may confuse students but it is only temporary. Once the project is finished students can access highly used services in one simple location. Currently the student services are spread out with some being on different levels.

Once the new Student Service Center is complete, students will have less walking to do around campus as a result. The temporary confusion may be worth it because the finished project will make services easier for students to find and access.

According to Horan, the construction process is going smoothly. “The Student Services remodel is progressing on-time and on-schedule.”

The timeline of the project “Building For Success” can be found on the LMC website at http://www.losmedanos.edu/construction/ under the Timeline tab. There are also tabs to click on for pathways to take during construction and a video time lapse that shows the transformation process.  The time-lapse video is updated daily according to Horan. “The camera takes new pictures every day and includes them in the time lapse update automatically,” he said. Students are welcome to keep updated on the construction and if they are curious as to what it looks like they can always go online to see. LMC tries to keep students in the loop of things instead of just faculty members; this shows that LMC values the students and their input as much as the employees.

When asked about the date for completion of the Student Service Center, Horan responded, “December 2014, which means we will likely move into the new space beginning in January 2015.”  This is promising news for the LMC community; the construction team must be hard at work in order to stay on schedule considering the size of the job.

Students will no longer have to ask what the upcoming Student Service Center provides. The pros of the construction outweigh the temporary cons. The teams behind the construction, including Kevin Horan, have the student’s best interests in mind. This generation of students will be around to see LMC’s transformation which will be around for future generations to see.