Progress Never Stops

It wasn’t long ago that I was having to walk across campus to the little College of Business building over by the dining hall. That building held nothing more than a small conference room and a handful of offices. It sure did provide for some memories though.

I remember the “Welcome Back!” picnic the college threw on their front lawn my freshman year. I saw just how happy the students were to see their professors again and it was then that I was sure that I was in good hands in the College of Business. My freshman year, they had recently renovated it and so things weren’t all up to speed when it came time for the freshmen to sit down and meet our academic adviser. She stormed out of her office in a fluster when her computer wouldn’t turn on.

While she was out of the room, I took a look at her computer to see if I could fix it, and wouldn’t you know it? It wasn’t even plugged in! I plugged it in, powered it up, and by the time she got back I had already gotten in good graces with her. There was constantly the need to walk in over for office hours, getting paper work signed and keeping up with what was new around the classes.

We never were able to have classes in the College of Business. We always had to have them elsewhere around campus, namely in the Academic Quad. The Quad was the original set of classrooms on campus; they served us well. But we really needed a new space meant for us. Scheduling conflicts arose in the last few years where it was kind of tough to find space for all the classes the university needed to teach.

In enters the Babcock Oaks building. Located North of campus on Babcock Street, it just about quadrupled the dedicated space for the College of Business. Since it was a former office building, some renovations needed to be done before the offices upstairs were all ready and the classrooms downstairs were operational.

Currently, there’s a computer lab and three classrooms that can hold upwards of 40 students each. At the moment, only senior and some junior level courses are taught there, but there are talks of expanding. One of the nicest parts is that it gives us a home. It gives us a one-stop shop where we can have class, hang out in the student lounge, watch Netflix in between said classes and also meet with our professors in their offices. I really can’t thank Mr. Bisk for all he has done for the College of Business here at Florida Tech. This latest gift will ensure that future generations of business students will have a stable environment in which to grow. I’m thankful that I was able to have one semester there, and to see its true potential.