BLOGS

The new place to be in Education City, most would agree, is the new Student Center. Since it opened, the Student Center has become the second home (apart from classes and libraries) of many students in EC universities.

 

 

Attractive when leisure time is available, it offers a wide variety of activities. It offers a place to chill out with friends while enjoying a bowling, billiard or ping-pong game. If you’re looking for something more exciting, it also offers a place to drive on two wheels, dance your feet away, kill some zombies or become the guitar hero of the day, yes, I’m talking about arcade games. And when it’s the right season, it gives you the chance to shout, sing, and show the pride in your colors while you watch your favorite university team score in a basketball or football game.

 

 

To get a better insight of the Student Center what can be better than asking a student employee; as a way to give students the opportunity to earn a salary, as well as to become a more active member of the community, QF offers students the chance to work in Education City.

 

 

 A QF employee myself, I have to admit that I felt a bit jealous when I heard about Amina Bougaila, a student at the Academic Bridge Program and student employee at the Student Center in the Sports and Recreation Department. These are the answers she gave when asked about the Student Center:

Photo credit: Justin harbor   www.justinharbor.com

 

 

Q: What do you exactly do in your job?

A: I am in charge of the Bowling alley. I open the lines and fix them when mechanical problems happen. I make sure bowlers are playing properly and I also hand in equipment for the bowling alley and other games, the gym and sport courts.

 

 

Q: From your perspective, what do you think is the most exciting activity at the Student Center?

A: For now, since only the recreation and sport courts are open, the bowling alley is the most exciting activity because groups of friends can compete and have fun at the same time. But as for the Student Center in general, I think it is going to become, literally, the center of Education City and home for every student and staff as well.

 

 

Q: Do you feel that more students visit the Student Center every day? Why so?

A: Yes, because it’s a new place and not everyone has had the chance or time to visit it, but when they come once they become addicted to it. For example, one of my friends was very lazy to come all the way from ABP to the Student Center, but since after she finally gave up her laziness and came with me once she hasn’t stopped asking me to go with her again and again.

 

 

Q: What do you feel is missing in the Student Center now?

A: Food! Food is the biggest thing missing in the Student Center, otherwise in my opinion; there should be a suitable space to study at. It doesn’t have to be a library but a quiet place to study. The only problem right now is that there are many great things such as the cafeteria or cinema theater, but they are not yet available for our use.

 

 

Q: In your opinion, what is the main factor that might hinder students from coming to the Student Center, and how can that be overcome?

A: I think that some students might find a problem with the parking, but I think it’s not a big deal; there are parking spaces all over EC and there’s the EC train. But in what concerns activities, there are more than enough activities planned and available already.

 

 

Q: Do you think that most students who visit the Student Center are mainly student living on campus or those living outside?

A: Not necessarily students living in the dorms, in fact I think students who live outside campus come more often.

 

 

Q: Any other comments about the new Student Center in general?

A: I see a promising future for the Student Center and I think it’s going to be even more successful after all the facilities are open and available for the students to use.

 

Still a baby, compared to other Education City facilities, the Student Center, as Amina puts it, seems to have a “promising future.” Apart from all the activities it offers and will offer in the future, the Student Center might also become a place where social circles will be created; engineers, graphic designers, doctors, economists, journalists, etc, might find a place to interact and establish relations amongst each other that might become the basis for companies, institutions and intellectual organizations of the future.