By now, a growing number of students have heard about a new Campus Plan for AU. Essentially, it’s about new buildings and what AU will become over the next 10 years. If you’re a student here today, you may wonder why this is relevant to you. It is, and here’s why.
Building new residence halls, improving academic and athletic facilities, and expanding Mary Graydon Center, will have a meaningful impact on student life, academic achievement, new students who come to AU, your college experience and our community.
For example, most of our current residence halls were built many years ago. Each year, several hundred AU freshmen begin college life living tripled in rooms originally designed for two people. (It was my experience as a freshman here years ago.) Moreover, to accommodate current student housing needs, AU rents 100 units in an apartment building adjacent campus.
As AU students today, many of you will graduate before the proposed new residence halls open and other improvements are completed. But your interest, input and support can help to ensure that they are here for the students who come after you.
Sooner than you think, classes and exams will be over and you will be an alum and on your way in the world. You may not think a lot about that now amidst the busy pace of classes, jobs, internships, study abroad and other campus activities.
But leaving things better than you experienced them is a good thing. The new Campus Plan will be a part of the legacy you leave to AU and future students. Take time to be involved and make a difference.
Penny Pagano Director, Community and Local Government Affairs American University
Pagano also graduated from AU.
