New additions are beneficial to campus community
By Katie Steelman
Last Updated:4:01 PM EST 1/27/10 Section: Viewpoint
When Fisher announces that it will be adding a new building to its 154 acres, it elicits mixed reactions from the campus community. It is not uncommon, for example, to hear a student in the dining hall gripe, "Another building? How about creating some more parking spaces?" Well, until someone donates X millions of dollars to create a parking garage bearing his or her name, we will have to take what we can get. But this is not necessarily a bad thing.
Though the average, out-of-breath, "Sorry-I'm-late-I-had-to-park-in-Park-&-Ride," student might be skeptical, there are a few advantages to augmenting the school. The two main advantages are people and prestige.
"People" refers to the effect new additions have on recruitment for the college. It's a fairly simple relationship: the more academic and extracurricular activities the college offers, the more students it will likely attract.
About a third of the students in my Great Expectations orientation group came to Fisher for either the pharmacy or nursing program; if not for the fairly recent addition of these two Wegmans schools, these students might not have chosen Fisher.
The new Polisseni Track and Field Complex is bound to attract students as well (about 150 students, the college expects). My roommate transferred to RIT at the end of last year, partly because she wanted to run track, which was something Fisher didn't offer. The new track and field complex will add seven new sports to the college, which means Fisher reps will have seven new chances to tell prospective students, 'Yes, we do have that here.'
With additional buildings and facilities also comes added prestige. Huge grants, new buildings and facilities make Fisher look good, both aesthetically and intrinsically. New buildings are impressive; but more importantly, the fact that people would give so much money to the college is a testament to how much the community values Fisher and what it has to offer.
The Polisseni Foundation, for example, has awarded grants to such organizations as Gilda's Club of Rochester, Safe Journey, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Rochester and Compeer Rochester, Inc., just to name a few, all of which do so much for the local community. Putting Fisher in the same category as these organizations is a tremendous compliment.
My recommendation for everyone at Fisher is to embrace these new additions and what they represent. I hope that one day a student will look at the Polisseni Track and Field Complex with pride (as they pass it on their way from Park & Ride) and think, "Yeah, we deserve this."
kls02927@sjfc.edu
Though the average, out-of-breath, "Sorry-I'm-late-I-had-to-park-in-Park-&-Ride," student might be skeptical, there are a few advantages to augmenting the school. The two main advantages are people and prestige.
"People" refers to the effect new additions have on recruitment for the college. It's a fairly simple relationship: the more academic and extracurricular activities the college offers, the more students it will likely attract.
About a third of the students in my Great Expectations orientation group came to Fisher for either the pharmacy or nursing program; if not for the fairly recent addition of these two Wegmans schools, these students might not have chosen Fisher.
The new Polisseni Track and Field Complex is bound to attract students as well (about 150 students, the college expects). My roommate transferred to RIT at the end of last year, partly because she wanted to run track, which was something Fisher didn't offer. The new track and field complex will add seven new sports to the college, which means Fisher reps will have seven new chances to tell prospective students, 'Yes, we do have that here.'
With additional buildings and facilities also comes added prestige. Huge grants, new buildings and facilities make Fisher look good, both aesthetically and intrinsically. New buildings are impressive; but more importantly, the fact that people would give so much money to the college is a testament to how much the community values Fisher and what it has to offer.
The Polisseni Foundation, for example, has awarded grants to such organizations as Gilda's Club of Rochester, Safe Journey, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Rochester and Compeer Rochester, Inc., just to name a few, all of which do so much for the local community. Putting Fisher in the same category as these organizations is a tremendous compliment.
My recommendation for everyone at Fisher is to embrace these new additions and what they represent. I hope that one day a student will look at the Polisseni Track and Field Complex with pride (as they pass it on their way from Park & Ride) and think, "Yeah, we deserve this."
kls02927@sjfc.edu
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