Chancellor Woodson, Student Body President Chandler Thompson, distinguished guests and alumni, students, faculty, and staff, it is truly an honor to stand before you today to join you in this groundbreaking celebration for the Talley Student Center Renovation & Expansion Project. My name is Jonathon Smith and I serve as the elected Student Centers President.
Today, we celebrate our past and our future. After countless hours of discussion, design, and collaboration, we break ground on a project that will change student life at our university for years to come. We are living in the 21st century and likewise, we need to bring our student center up to date so that it can serve students who are here now and in the future.
Today, I think about the past generations of Wolfpack students. The vision of these students was to make North Carolina State University a place of learning, collaboration, and life. Their vision helped to bring us to the point we are in history today at NC State University. Their contributions and their investments have given us the university as we know it currently. But today, this project represents our contribution to history, our value in our university, and our great expectation for the future.
This building has been designed in part by the students of NC State. The lead architect for this project is Wolfpack alumnus Turan Duda and his staff has worked diligently to design a building that provides both what students want and what they need.
You wanted a green building and this building will be green. You asked for more meeting rooms and we shall have more, with double the amount of space than we currently have. Dances, banquets, and special events will be much larger and better in the new grand ballroom and will better serve students as well as alumni and visitors that use the facility. The world will come to our university by way of new food options including a world market complete with a hearth. The spaces within the student center will be visually connected and skylights will bring natural light into the building.
Programs such as Student Government, the Student Organization Resource Center, the Center for Student Leadership, Ethics, and Public Service (CSLEPS), Campus Activities, and the Union Activities Board will expand their areas, allowing them to better serve students and impact our university. ARTS NC State will enjoy updated meeting rooms and offices while the Gregg Museum of Art & Design will soon move to the historic Chancellor’s Residence.
And last but not least, this will be a building full of technology that will change and advance along with the students that come in the future. A new technology tower will complete the building and symbolize our generation and the contributions we are making to our world.
Today we are joined by state leaders, NCSU supporters, alumni, and friends, who all are supportive of our purpose as a university. Today I encourage you to consider contributing financially to the project. Naming opportunities will soon be available and this is one project that will impact all students on campus for years to come.
My peers may ask today, “how will I know I have left a mark on campus when I leave?” and I promise you that once this center is built, you will be able to look everywhere in this center and see a place where this generation of Wolfpack students have left their mark on their university.
Today, I encourage you to continue to stay connected with the project. Engage in the project and take your picture in front of the construction area for The Brick. Contact your representatives on the Student Centers Board of Directors and in Student Government to voice your opinions and concerns. Visit the new Talley website on a regular basis to receive updates and submit your impressions of the project.
My challenge to you all today is to catch hold of the vision and let us watch Talley Student Center truly transform in the coming years.
Thank you for your time and Go Wolfpack!