After about a year of construction, Meridian Community College is expected to unveil its David H. Quave Student Life Center Thursday, Aug. 18 at 10 a.m.

The entire facility will be 8,800 square feet, including a 3,200 square foot outdoor covered porch. Dean for Student Services Soraya Welden said the facility was simply a natural addition for the school. She said MCC President Dr. Scott Elliott wanted a student center to come to fruition.

“For many, many years we haven’t had a true student life center. About a year ago, Dr. Elliott recommended that this be our next student-involved construction project because we’ve had several on campus,” Welden said, referring to the chapel, soccer coaching offices and concession stand, the tennis fieldhouse and coaching office, the Holladay Center for E-Learning, the Adult Basic Education-GED Building and Weddington Hall and baseball fieldhouse.

Construction trade students on campus worked on many aspects of the facility, including construction. Construction Trades included 15 students, while Electrical Technology students numbered 17. What they didn’t do was contracted out.

Welden said the college needed a place for students to mingle.

“We wanted a place for students to congregate or hang out. We wanted a more social gathering place,” Welden said. “There will places for tables and chairs for seating where they can eat, get a cup of coffee and study. There will be a conference room for meetings. There will be a covered outdoor expanse for student events.”

Welden said other amenities will include pool tables, ping pong tables, foosball tables, gaming systems and five flatscreen television sets.

Students currently mingle in “Ivy Mall,” or the large hallway in the administration building.

Right now students just sit out in the hallway, but that’s not conducive to everybody working in here because of the loud talking and laughing,” Welden said.

Welden said the center should be a selling point for prospective students. She said MCC had just over 3,400 students enrolled during the spring semester.

“We have so many commuting students who drive to class and then leave. This might give some of those students a reason to stay and become involved with more activities,” Welden said. “I would consider it a recruiting draw, something that would entice a student to want to attend here.”

Jim Miles, head of the school’s Electrical Technology Program, said students were involved during most every aspect of construction.

“Our Construction Trades students were in charge of the framing, while the Electrical Technology students were in charge of electrical installation,” Miles said. “These projects helped them get employment skills because they were working on a real project. This is the biggest building our students have built so far. And they did it in the allotted time frame of one year.”