{"id":233723,"date":"2016-10-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-14T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/mesa-college-opens-green-student-commons-building\/"},"modified":"2016-10-14T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-10-14T07:00:00","slug":"mesa-college-opens-green-student-commons-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/mesa-college-opens-green-student-commons-building\/","title":{"rendered":"Mesa College opens green student commons building"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ursula Kroemer<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The new Mesa Commons building at Mesa College serves as a gateway to the campus. (Courtesy of Mesa College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Students and faculty at Mesa College returned to classes this fall to the opening of an expansive new student commons building that will serve as a welcoming gateway to the campus as well as house labs and classrooms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose of us who have been on campus watching this building come out of the earth and watching it open this semester know it has changed the pattern of how our students and all of us experience this campus,\u201d Mesa Colleage president Pamela Luster said at a dedication ceremony held on Sept. 14. \u201cIt\u2019s really a remarkable space where students are finding their space and place on our campus, and that\u2019s exactly what Mesa is all about.\u00a0We want them to come here, and we want them to be in community with one another and with all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new $44.3 million, 73,000-square-foot Mesa Commons project serves as a student hub, housing the college\u2019s state-of-the-art culinary arts management labs and classrooms, modern student-run M-Fusion Dining Caf\u00e9, expanded new cafeteria and food court, campus bookstore, convenience store, coffee caf\u00e9, faculty and student lounges, and conference rooms.\u00a0The new facility, funded through the San Diego Community College District\u2019s $1.555 billion construction bond program, also includes the campus stockroom, mail and printing services.<\/p>\n

Ava Fakhrabadi, president the Mesa College Associated Student Government, praised the Mesa Commons as a place that \u201cfeels less like a school and a little more like home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year, Mesa proves more and more that it\u2019s not a commuter school but a community. Student government this year wants to work more closely with students and give them more opportunities to be involved on campus. And with the community that the Mesa Commons has given us, we know that this is going to be totally possible,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want to make Mesa a home for everyone here. With all of the amazing people surrounding us, we know there is no limit to what we can achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Constance Carroll, SDCCD chancellor, reflected on when she served as Mesa College president.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/strong>What a great day for the students of Mesa College. It makes my heart proud to look around and see all of these new facilities, especially what is now the new heart of the college, the Mesa Commons,\u201d she said, also thanking local voters for their support of the bond measures that made the project possible. \u201cThese bond measures were the result of bold action on the part of our board, bold action on the part of the entire community, and bold action on the part of the voters of San Diego.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have now been on this board since 1990, so I\u2019ve seen the transformation to our district because of these wonderful measures,\u201d said Maria Senour, president of SDCCD\u2019s Board of Trustees. \u201cThis is a wonderful addition to the campus.\u00a0This is a place where they can meet with their peers, they can study together.\u00a0We all know one of the parts of retention of students is their sense of community within the campus, and this building helps to create more of that sense of community within the campus that already exists.\u00a0We\u2019re very proud of this achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n

A hallmark of the SDCCD bond program is sustainability through its\u00a0Green Building Policy<\/a>, and the Mesa Commons has extensive \u201cgreen\u201d features:<\/p>\n