By Meghan Hill
Student Reporter
Current renovations for the Ware Student Commons and new Student Life area at Amarillo College are projected to finish within the spring 2025 semester.
These construction projects, ongoing at AC since 2020, include expanding the Advocacy and Resource Center on the WSC’s first floor, adding more offices on the second floor and housing a new conference center in the Student Life area.
Vice President of Business Affairs, Chris Sharp, expects the first and second floors of the WSC to be finished by the end of February. The third-floor WSC, the new host for Lynn Library, is expected to be finished by early April.
The fourth WSC floor, which will contain a new tutoring center, is still unfinished. “There are a lot of moving parts yet to happen in this area before we can determine a completion date,” Sharp said.
Sharp also reassured that the completion of the Student Life renovations was close. “The Student Life first floor, which will house Student Life, Esports and a conference center, is scheduled for completion sometime in late April,” Sharp said.
Thomas Koenig, a cybersecurity major and a 2012 AC graduate and returning student, reflected on how these new additions to campus will help with the positive growth of a relaxing student environment.
Koenig recognized AC’s commitment to growth on campus through this construction and mentioned that the change to make necessary resources closer in proximity will lead to less of an “inconvenience” to students. “With the ARC being too separated from the library before, this will make it easier to get the help I need, whether it’s talking with my success coach or someone about community resources,” Koenig said.
The impending completion of these projects also excited Cikri Martinez, a business administration major, who immediately noticed the potential help students could receive. “I feel like it could increase student productivity, engagement and interactions within each other,” Martinez said.
Focusing on the importance of a student’s well-being, Martinez also saw the potential of collaboration with their peers using these new features. “This could also serve as an aid to college student mental stress as it allows them to congregate with one another; helping to be able to talk to each other about their classes and maybe problems in class,” Martinez said.
Both projects, which cost a total of $13 million, were funded by both the 2019 bonds voted on by Amarillo citizens and the Badger Bold Campaign. After the construction on the Student Life and WRC areas, there are currently no other plans for more renovations. “These are the last of our bond projects,” Sharp said.
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