By NATE KING
Salina Post
An opportunity to congregate was the vision behind the new student center at Salina Area Technical College, 2562 Centennial Road. Dozens of community members, business leaders and U.S. Senator Jerry Moran were present to celebrate with the college during a Salina Area Chamber of Commerce After Hours event held on Thursday.
"Certainly new facilities on Salina Tech's campus is great news. The facilities I've seen are beautiful. That helps in recruiting and retaining students and helps in bringing businesses to see what goes on at Salina Tech that impresses them. But this is about a workforce," Moran said.
Moran said that business, regardless of industry are looking for people who are motivated and eager to work.
"Our technical colleges in Kansas are among our most important and sometimes they're overlooked and they should not be," Moran said. "This is a day to celebrate development in Salina that will have long term consequences on our ability to attract and retain businesses and give people the opportunity to pursue a job that they have the training to do."
Construction on the student center began in November 2021. The project was spearheaded by Greg Nichols, college president; Jennifer Callis, vice president of instruction; and Erica Kruckenberg, vice president of student services.
During his remarks Nichols put into context what the area, now the student center, looked like when he arrived at the college in 2016.
"Where some of you are standing, I think might have been the old Flamingo Lounge. If you go to the north, there was the boiler room and the coffee center. That was all taken down. It was all moldy, had asbestos, different things. So that was all abated, taken care of," Nichols said. "That is not the image that I thought would be a good image when I first got here."
The student center has comfortable seating areas, TV screens, an accessible vending market and a bookstore.
"It is an exciting time for our students, for our faculty and our staff. The Student Center has provided an opportunity for students to congregate where they would have otherwise been with their programs, now they can kind of mix and mingle together in their break time in their early mornings, if their transportation drops off before class starts with the bookstore," Kruckenberg said. " Now they have the opportunity to get their Salina Tech SWAG for themselves or mom and dad."
Thanks to third party contractor Premier Vending, based out of Wichita, students will be able to peruse a wide variety of vending snacks, sandwiches, burritos, salads and ice cream. The vending market also includes a coffee station.
"I can think about how this now looks to a prospective student, different than it did when I've seen it before, how it may help retain students," Moran said. "If we bring a business to Salina, Saline County or central Kansas, and they want to see what kind of technical education is occurring here. This is very appealing, it has a look about not the past, but the future. So congratulations to Salina Tech."
The campus bookstore is open for business. Salina Technical College officials said that an online store would be available by this summer.