Grand Opening Of MSC Set For Sept. 1-8
Construction of the Memorial Student Center was completed in April.
Texas A&M University students will celebrate the reopening of the Memorial Student Center (MSC) with a week-long “grand opening,” running from Saturday, Sept. 1, to Game Day on Saturday, Sept. 8 when the Aggies play the University of Florida at Kyle Field.
When the MSC was first dedicated on Muster Day (April 21) in 1951, the “living room of the campus” was big enough to serve the 6,583 cadets enrolled, officials recall. Today’s MSC, on the other hand, serves more than 50,000 current students, tens of thousands of former students and almost that many visitors, the officials add.
MSC officials note that the renovated and expanded MSC reopened on Muster Day, 2012. Thousands of current and former students attended the rededication of the building at that time and were reminded that it embodies the Aggie spirit by serving both as a living memorial to Aggies who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country and a hands-on learning laboratory preparing leaders for tomorrow.
“The MSC ‘Grand Opening’ is going to be an unbelievably joyous time in the history of Texas A&M,” a chance to celebrate a place that connects Aggies of every age,” says MSC President/CEO Tyler Stewart,. It’s the place where we come together to enjoy campus life and the building most people return to. The MSC has been a part of every Aggie’s experience, and the ‘grand opening’ is a way to celebrate that.”
Festivities begin with a concert featuring Mayer Hawthorne and special guest Ben Rector at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 1, in Rudder Auditorium. Stewart says the MSC student organizations have planned themes for each day of the “Grand Opening” week to showcase the breadth and depth of the Aggie educational experience and highlight this state-of-the-art student union.
MSC Open House from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 2, in an around the MSC will spotlight Texas A&M’s “unprecedented levels of student involvement,” Stewart says. In addition to providing opportunities to serve, many of the university’s 800-plus student organizations give students hands-on chances to put knowledge and skills learned in class into practice outside the classroom, he adds.
Themes for the rest of the week include Academic Day (Monday, Sept. 3), History and Traditions Day (Tuesday, Sept. 4), Service Day (Wednesday, Sept. 5), Visual and Performing Arts Day (Thursday, Sept. 6), and a Grand Finale on Friday, Sept. 7. The week-long “Howdy Housewarming Hullaballoo” winds up on Saturday, Sept. 8, when the Fightin’ Texas Aggies kick off membership in the SEC by taking the field against the University of Florida.
A detailed schedule of grand Opening celebration events is available here.
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Media contact: Dave Salmon, associate director, Memorial Student Center, at (979) 845-1515 or Stephen Senkel, associate director, University Center Complex, at (979) 845-8904
The MSC was poorly done to say the least, it looks like a hodge podge of design. The architecture firm needs to be banned from campus. Pale yellow brick and white limestone doesn’t work, a waste of money.
Please post several photos, inside and out, for those of us who are unable to be there for the grand re-opening.
I’m sure the designers were going for uniformity of campus brick color–something lacking over years past. The architectural design seems to me to be in keeping with the recently constructed life sciences building across Simpson Drill Field.
Josh – Check out photos here – http://ourmsc.tamu.edu/tomorrow and here – http://www.flickr.com/photos/msc-tamu/sets/72157630344779422/
As a parent, we were very impressed with the New MSC. Very beautiful and warm building. Must see….