We here at the Advocate are proud to be the first to give you an official welcome back to Montgomery College for the Fall semester of 2013.  There are more than a few welcoming and noticeable changes to the Rockville campus since last Spring, so we’d like to get everyone in the student community caught up to speed.  We’re detailing every change., whether they are in progress, finished, or yet to come.  Here’s the good, along with the not so good.

The Good:
  
(Photo: Ben Holmes)

Austin Grill Express!
Let’s start with  the brand new food court.  Arguably the biggest improvement on campus this year is the addition of the Austin Grill, which replaces the Jerry’s Pizza from previous years.  The  Austin Grill Express is the featured, signature restaurant of the new food court.  Popular items will include burritos, quesadillas, and sides such as onion rings.   The Grill will be opening on Monday, August 26th, 2013.

         
(Photo: Ben Holmes)

Cafeteria renovations
The cafeteria is completely redone, and it does indeed look fresh.  With the clean refurbished look, along with new refrigerator docks, and finally that awkwardly placed and unnecessarily large soft-drink station ripped out, the food court floor looks spacious and well organized.

Oh, and yes.  Although the college has had some contractual changes in which products can be sold for consumption on campus, we still  have Starbucks Coffee.

The Bad:

(Photo:  Matt Sugawara Levy)

Parking lot changes that did not change much…
For the students who attended summer sessions on campus this year, you more than likely saw the majority of the campus’ large parking lots completely blocked off from any access other than construction.  Adding more spaces?  Unfortunately not.  From what we could tell, they simply replaced some of the barriers and lighting structures within the lots, along with some new pavement.  Thus, we are left with the same amount of spaces (not enough) as we had last Spring.  Fight on.

  
(Photo:  Matt Sugawara Levy)

New building(s) still under construction
This should be prefaced by stating that these changes will produce a very useful, well-funded, and rewarding result in the near future, but right now it is an inconvenience to students.   As someone who has taken classes at the Rockville campus for almost four years now, it seems as though there is always some sort of large construction area impeding student traffic, and effecting the environment.

Again, a small price to pay for what the shiny new result will be down the road (the new science building), and those of us who have blue-collar jobs such as some students can appreciate the construction in a certain sense, but nonetheless, the construction can’t display itself as anything but inconvenient at this point.

Though there are many day-to-day changes and adjustments that both the student body and staff adapt to, most of the major additions and changes come with full anticipation, and lately they have been great for the school’s reputation, and what’s called “campus flow.” From the increased use of technology with over 150 computers in use, to the revamped food court, along with the second science department building to be under construction, a student’s experience here is largely opportunistic, portable, and comfortable, and that’s ideal for students as they begin another semester at MC Rockville.