The Student Activity Center is set to be replaced by a newly named Student Union Building, and students have high hopes for what it might offer.
“The current plan is probably to knock down the Student Activity Center and it’ll go from the road to the fountain,” said vice president of academics, Karson Ray, a senior biology major from Hurricane.
While the current Student Activity Center offers a gym and study rooms to students and faculty, students hope the future Student Union Building offers more.
Game rooms
Students want to see a form of entertainment in the future building, whether that be pool tables or a game room similar to what Campus View Suites II offers.
“[I would like to see] a good game room,” said Steven Broadbent, a senior graduating with a certificate in paramedic from Augusta, Georgia. “We had pool tables, but they were all sent to surplus.”
Newly elected student body president, Jose Toral-Martinez, a senior communication studies major form St. George, shares the hopes of a game area in the future building. He also hopes to find room for a garden area, movie lounge and more restaurants.
Study rooms
Several students want to see more study rooms and resources for students to use.
Tyler Freeman, a freshman management major from Ontario, California, said he would like to have somewhere to go and do homework, discuss ideas with friends and work on group projects.
“[Somewhere that has] the resources for students to do that as opposed to a couple of seats,” Freeman said.
Students would like to see study rooms featuring desks, computers and a specific place to do homework away from others.
Noah Ashton, a sophomore history major from St. George, expressed his want to have a more modern building with more spaces for students to hang out in.
Toral-Martinez said he would like for students to utilize this new building as a resource building.
“Having all of the organizations on campus placed in this building will make students feel more welcomed because there would be something for every student,” Toral-Martinez said.
More restaurants
A common issue students have with Utah Tech University is the lack of food options on campus. Students want a bigger variety of restaurants to choose from.
“We’ve been looking into different ideas,” Ray said. “A lot of them consist of a ton of new food options, between 15 and 20 new food options.”
Toral-Martinez also said students would benefit more if they had different options for food.
Students want to utilize the future Student Union Building as a place they do can everything: eat, study and hang out. With the common theme of adding more restaurants, students have similar visions of what they want this building to be.
Toral-Martinez plans on making sure everyone’s opinions and suggestions are heard through surveys on what they want from this building. Using these surveys, he wants to find ways on how he can implement them in the process of the new building.
“I would also like to have an open discussion with students to get votes on what students truly want,” Toral-Martinez said.
While plans for this building have not been solidified, students wants and needs are being taken into account in the planning.
