By Stephen Chan
The groundbreaking of NJIT’s planned Wellness and Events Center occurred last Thursday, November 12th and featured the appearance of several key figures in the NJIT community, including President Joel S. Bloom and Student Senate President Rajeet Das.
The WEC is planned to be finished in the Fall of 2017 and will feature athletic, social, and academic facilities for the NJIT community. The building costs an estimated $102 million dollars, and to date, NJIT has fundraised over $159 million dollars for the building.
Several NJIT alumni, investors, donors, students, and athletes attended the ceremony, which also featured an appearance by the NJIT Highlander mascot, who participated in the groundbreaking ceremony.
NJIT officials, including the Graduate Student Association and members of Student Senate had been discussing the creation of the WEC for roughly three years.
President Bloom expressed his thoughts on the need of a new athletic center. “The old center opened in 1965 and at the time was the largest space on campus, but we’ve outgrown it four fold. It gives us a place for meetings, health and fitness, and scholastic participation. It is keeping up with the physical improvements were making to the campus,” said Bloom.
Bloom hopes that an even greater number of supporters will be present at the ribbon cutting ceremony in September 2017.
