The Seminole Scribe Issue No. 5
Seminole State College of Florida
November 19 , 2012
Altamonte Campus To Expand by 1.4 Million Square Feet By Sabira Mawji @SabiraMawji Students complaining of overcrowded classrooms and a congested parking lot at Seminole State’s Altamonte campus prompted school officials to consider adding 1.4 million square feet to the existing one-building facility. A sketch for a Starbucks, shopping center and a quasitown center for the Altamonte community was projected by Orlando-based HuntonBrady Architects on October 15.
Renderings and master plan developed by Orlando’s Hunton Brady Architects
That’s when the College’s Board of Trustees proposed the Altamonte campus expansion along State Road 434, becoming larger than all Seminole State campuses combined. The process for expansion started back in 2010 when the Board of Trustees approved the purchase of 28.57 acres adjacent to the Altamonte campus, including three dealerships worth $22.5 million. This opened up possibilities for an additional 950,000 square feet of classrooms and 1,400 parking spots. Now, with the rendering in place, the school has to approve the plan at the December 3 meeting. However, the extension will be too late for some students like Latoya Jackson who said she was very disappointed to find out that the Altamonte campus was expanding after her graduation day. “I wish I was finishing three to four years from now instead of this semester,” she said. “I would love to take classes at the Altamonte campus with new classrooms and go shopping in between my classes.” The reason for expanding the
Altamonte campus now is because it’s one of the most important endeavors in the area, according to Frank Martz, the Community Redevelopment Agency and Planning Services Director for the City of Altamonte. Mr. Martz said Seminole State College is an asset to the city’s community and that’s why the city of Altamonte chose to be private partners with college. “Seminole State Colleges are the best state colleges in Florida,” he said in a phone interview with The Scribe. “Any community is benefited for having high quality schools.” Once news about the Altamonte campus reached other Seminole State campuses, students were predicting what the expansion could possibly include and
said they wanted it would be beneficial for the student body. Nursing student Fatimah Jaffer, who attends her University of Central Florida nursing classes at the Altamonte campus, said when she found out about the expansion, she hoped the plans would include extra facilities for the students to use. “Since Altamonte campus is a regional UCF campus,” Ms. Jaffer said, “an expansion project that many of the students would really benefit from would be the creation of a Student Government Association, a student lounge and printing center similar to the one at Sanford/Lake Mary. It would be a huge asset to our student body at the Altamonte Campus.”
home base for all of Seminole State’s healthcare programs, which are offered as a joint program with the University of Central Florida and give students who live in Seminole County an option to take classes closer to home.
More than 4,300 students like Ms. Jaffer currently attend the Atlamonte campus, making it the
Jay Davis, director of communications and media at Seminole State College, said the
expansion will be beneficial for all students, especially for students in the healthcare program. “Expanding the campus would allow the College’s healthcare programs to expand,” Mr. Davis said. “However, it would also open up more opportunities for all students.”
Birds Flock to Seminole State their home.
The cranes, a threatened species of fowl, are at risk for becoming extinct, Mary Keim, biological sciences professor at Seminole State College, said. In the winter, Ms. Keim said, another subspecies, the Greater Sandhill Crane, flies down from the northern United States and Canada in large numbers. Both species of crane feed on seeds,
By Michael Tennant @mtennant71
berries and insects.
Seminole State student Corey Kouba walked across campus recently when it happened: birds started chasing him “for about five minutes,” he said, after he came too close to one of their young.
The Sandhill Cranes are classified as a protected species in Florida.
“They are very beautiful birds,” Mr. Kouba said, “just very foul tempered.” Some mornings, Seminole State College brings to mind Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 film ‘The Birds” as the Florida Sandhill cranes seem to overrun the campus wandering around the buildings and gathering by the Student Center; the campus is
“You cannot feed them, harass them or harm them,” George Milwee, grounds maintenance supervisor at Seminole State, said. But occasionally the cranes cause problems, Mr. Milwee said, tearing up the athletic fields while looking for food. And some of the birds have become tame and walk right up to people looking for food having been fed before. BIRDS continued on page 3
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