Going downtown

I just got off the bus on the Grand Rapids campus, but still have time to spare before my next class. So why not tell you all a little about the Grand Rapids campus, right? Pins and needles, I’m sure. A lot of students worry about the whole split campus set up, but as I’ve said before, you shouldn’t be concerned—the busing system works out great. But a large number of students should still be interested about the downtown campus, since we have several majors that are essentially run from this location. Chief among these are business, nursing and the health sciences, criminal justice, education, engineering, social work, and public and nonprofit administration. There are others, but these seven make up the bulk of the facilities. There are really three structures worth mentioning downtown; the Devos Center (not to be confused with Devos Place), the Eberhard Center, and the Cook-Dewitt Center for Health Sciences.

Devos is where I spend most of my time, and not just because of the dining hall there. There’s a large number of classrooms, as well as the entire Seidman School of Business office, multiple computer labs, and the Steelcase Library. It’s probably the best place to study between classes, since so many resources are available to you. But just next to the river is the Eberhard Center, which I thin is the tallest Grand Valley structure. More classrooms are here, as well as a convention center, and it’s connected to the Kennedy Engineering Hall. I was just in the engineering hall this summer for a friend’s open house for class, and it’s a great building. Finally, the CHS building is further inside Grand Rapids, on the hill. I’ve never actually been inside this structure myself, but I can tell you that it has a great location. The street that it’s on is referred to as the “medical mile,” and it’s a prime spot for students finding internships in the health sciences.

But that’s all for now. If you’ve got a question, don hesitate to ask here or give us a call.

-Kyle

Recreation facilities on campus

First home football game tonight, which means the campus is pumped up. The admissions office, not so much. It’s a little quiet up here on the third floor today, so it’s probably a good chance to get a little writing done. Even though I’m tempted to talk about football, I probably won’t have much to say until after the game. But along the lines of athletics, a good subject to bring up is the campus rec. center.

GVSU has a great student gym, with three floors of facilities. The middle floor has a load of cardio machines, probably more than you could ever need. It’s also convenient if you warm up or cool down on aerobics machines, because the middle floor is also where the entrance to the facility is. Beneath that we have weight machines, free weights, a total of five basketball courts, and various medicine balls. A nice additional feature is the elevated track; the third floor has a 1/9 of a mile track with a great view of the three main basketball/volleyball courts. And what might be the best part of all is the fact that students have free access to the rec. center with their id card. The rec. center also hosts a large number of our on campus intramural sports.

But there’s more than one workout facility on campus. Students also have free access to Grand Valley’s pool facility, racquetball courts, and the Laker Turf Center. So if students want to run a few laps on the Turf Center’s 300 meter track, play a game of flag football, or just swim a few laps, all a student needs is a valid GVSU id.
But that’s about it for now, all of this talk about the gyms on campus is making me feel guilty for not working out more often. As always, if you’ve got a question, post it.

-Kyle

First week of class

Today has been a day that’s given me flashbacks to the summer break; we have today off as part of the Labor Day weekend here at GVSU, and even though there are still students on campus, I think most of them are taking the opportunity to sleep in. But classes did start last week, on the 31st, with all the bells and whistles. Getting used to new professors, meeting new people, actually finding the classrooms, quite a lot happens in quite a short period of time. Having been here for a while, I forget how intimidating it can be to a new student, but it’s not as bad as you would think it is. A lot of the structures have recently been reorganized, so it’s simpler to find different locations. Mackinac Hall, for instance, was given all new office numbers and wings just last year, so it’s pretty easy to navigate now. Plus, Transitions was two weeks ago, so there were groups of freshmen being led around by upper classmen for most of that period. Which I have to laugh at, because it’s probably the most organized that a group of freshmen will be all year long. There was also a poster sale on campus last week, and best of all I had a chance to eat at Fresh Foods earlier (and yes, it was as good as I remember it). And even though it’s quiet at the moment, Student Life Night is tonight (I think), so we should see packs of students returning this evening to sign up for clubs and organizations on campus. But, that’s all I have to say right now, so if you’re wondering about anything, don’t forget to post it.

-Kyle