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President LeBlanc and Opechee talk about Construction

By Zach Keating- Managing Editor

With the school year winding down and the sights and sounds of construction still in the air, many students are wondering if this building process is ever going to stop.  Well, have no fear because the end is in sight, and the results are more impressive than the daily explosions it took to build this new part of SNHU's campus.

Dana Adams, Vice President of Opechee, reports that the construction is on time and slated to be completed by June to allow the school to furnish it and make it usable for the fall semester.  "We tried to keep with the trend the school already has, but added some modern aspects as well," said Adams.  He continued to state, "The main focus of this building is versatility."  This versatility can be seen throughout the construction, especially with some of the non-classroom aspects that really give this building a unique feeling.  The building will contain a large study area complete with a fireplace and a coffee shop similar to the shop in the existing café.  President LeBlanc said that "this area will be a social and study space, an atmosphere between the café and the library." This "Learning Commons" has walls that are completely glass, providing a lot of natural light for this section.   It also includes 4-group study room that will be available for students to reserve for group work in a non-library atmosphere. 

Some of the most unique features of this building are included in the efforts to make the buildings more "green." The class building has radiant floor heating as well as additional insulation on the roof and a white membrane on top of the building to deflect the sun.  All of the tile used for the floors comes from recycled material and can be recycled again by the same company from which it came.  The building also comes with a "Demand control ventilation system." This system controls the CO2 levels in the building through numerous sensors and allows adequate amounts of fresh air from outside instead of conditioning all of the air in the building.  "Students want to see us care about sustainability," said President LeBlanc.

Furthermore, President LeBlanc stressed that, "SNHU was the first college in New Hampshire to go carbon neutral as well as one of two schools in New England to win an award from the EPA."  These green features surely set these two buildings apart and move the school towards an overall eco-friendly campus. 

These two buildings will certainly come as a welcomed asset to our campus as a whole.  SNHU is also planning to hopefully build a new facilities building in the next two years.  The existing student center is slated to house more student affairs offices as well as a new wellness center.  The new café will be completed prior to the start of the spring semester and will be open for business when students return from winter break.