Cafateria remodel soon to be a reality?

Photo by: Abby Bellow

 

While the Thrive campaign is upgrading Oklahoma Christian University, the cafeteria is one change the campus says its ready for.

“United Dining gave us a million dollars to redo the Caf and so we are working on what the new cafeteria will look like,” Will Blanchard, director of advancement operations, said.

Fundraising for the cafeteria remodel is one-third of the way completed. A total of $3 million is needed for the entire remodel.

Blanchard said the new projects that are in start-up phases are ones Thrive currently has in motion.

“What I can tell you for sure is that we are going to make the cafeteria more accessible and inviting so things will be removed to get rid of this long line,” Blanchard said. “Also, some of the walls will be gone to open up the area to the windows to make there be more natural light in the cafeteria.”

Senior Ashton Vanlandingham said the cafeteria was in need of a remodel.

“That is a great investment, especially if it cuts the flow of traffic because it is all bundled up in the same little area,” senior Vanlandingham said. “So if they were to reconstruct it, I think that would be great.”

Some campus Thrive upgrades have been completed. Blanchard said the Davisson American Heritage auditorium remodel was greatly needed.

“DAH auditorium had been completely redone with new HD projectors and new white screens,” said Blanchard. “It will definitely help with how classes are and what kids are learning.”

Vanlandingham, a Family Studies major, has most of her classes are in DAH. She heard about the updates to the building.

“I took a peak in the auditorium because the upper classmen are mostly in the upstairs classrooms, but I feel like the freshmen got to benefit from it more than we do,” Vanlandingham said. “But improvements all around the DAH would be really nice. Probably what they are doing is great and that auditorium needed an update.”

Tevin Cleveland had a slightly different opinion about the new advancements with the Thrive campaign.

“I feel like they should not worry about the classroom and actually focus the money on things that will actually benefit the students,” said Cleveland. “Like fixing our washers and dryers so that they don’t ruin our clothing. I feel like [the classroom] was not very necessary to fix. The bathrooms in older dorms would be nicer with an update because we live there and have to deal with that stuff every day.”

Cleveland says the projects should be more student life-based to make students happier to come to the school and live on campus. The one academic building that he believes deserves the most attention, however, would be the auditorium in the Bible building.

“They need to redo all of those chairs because we have to all go in there as students,” Cleveland said.

Cleveland said that the majority of students only go into DAH for one class in their college career, but he is happy to see improvements to the school.

“I feel like it is a great program, but I feel like they should put the focus more on benefiting the students like where we live, while also fixing some classrooms and whatnot,” Cleveland said. “They should balance out the program.“

Cleveland is still thankful that the program is informing the students on what is going on with the money that is being donated.

Vanlandingham said the campus improvements she would like to see may be too far out of the scope of Thrive.

“I would like to see a second story to the Student Center,” Vanlandingham said. “I know that is almost impossible because of a rocky foundation. But I feel like a bigger student center that has everything in it. Kind of what UCO has. But I would love to see a more centralized student center so that the students can get every thing they need all in one place.”

Vanlandingham said she is eager to see what the future has in store for the Thrive program.

“I love how it is being done and how students now know what is being done at school to improve it,” Vanlandingham said. “The Thrive program is really putting in action the saying that the university advertises which is ‘OC is making a better home.’”