By Jessika Perez
Roughly 750 students are enrolled in courses at GRCC’s Holland Lakeshore Campus, and many more are flocking to the renovated building to take advantage of its resources.
“I feel more comfortable and I feel more privacy,” said Eduardo Urbina, 40, from Holland. “I do work a full-time job in the morning so sometimes it’s better for me to come out after work because I have more privacy.”
The Lakeshore Campus’ natural lighting falls on open tables and empty accommodating booths. Open classrooms with collapsible walls and testing rooms allow students more than enough room to social distance and study in a quiet, comfortable environment.
“I like how cozy it feels and how relaxing it is,” said Conner McBride.
“I think it’s a great location next to shops and food,” said Veronica Miller, 20, from Grand Haven. More students like Miller who is a first-time visitor, are regularly dropping in. She is part of the pastry arts program at GRCC.
“I think it’s super well laid out,” she said. “I love all the study areas. All the open rooms for students to go and study.”
Miller also weighed in on the tutoring opportunities at the campus, saying she believed there were only services for math and English courses.
“I think it was Math and English only,” Miller said. “And my sister was looking at tutoring for her science class, but I guess she didn’t find it today.”
Tutoring services for the Lakeshore Campus can be found here. The Lakeshore Campus plans on offering more opportunities for students in the future.
“There’s always room for growth,” said Rose Muller-Trinh, the recruiter for the Futures for Frontliners and Reconnect Scholarship Recipients.
Hundreds of students flow through the halls and classrooms throughout the day. As of now, classes are Monday through Thursday with the campus being closed on Saturday and Sunday.
Though the campus has a tall and wide interior space, conversations don’t echo as one would presume – another detail thought out ahead of time with students in mind. Muller-Trinh pointed out the flooring and mentioned a sound dampening system “So that you don’t hear a lot of echoing when there’s a big gathering.” She also mentioned there being architectural considerations to amplify certain sounds for the hard of hearing.
At the center of the building, a black shelving cart with cans of food and other individual food items stands. This is the Lakeshore campus’ grab and go food made available free to GRCC students – one of two food programs the school offers.
“The other program is if the student needs assistance with food or groceries, they can fill out a really simple application online,” Muller-Trinh said. “So every week they can pick up groceries from the main campus. Those items would need to be cooked and prepared.”
Resources for students in need of additional assistance can be found here.
Students also weighed in on how the Lakeshore Campus has created more opportunities to further their education without the stress of commuting to downtown Grand Rapids campuses.
“I live in Grand Haven, so I figured that it would be closer to me if I wanted to go and study and do some shopping and stuff like that,” Miller said. Miller’s pastry program is offered at the main campus. “That’s kind of where I’m based for now.”
Urbina is currently making one trip to Grand Rapids every other week for class – he tried to enroll at the Lakeshore campus but the building’s construction had not been completed in time. He eventually wants to be fully Lakeshore-based.
“That’d be great, especially in the winter time,” Urbina said.
For students like Conner McBride, 18, commuting to Grand Rapids isn’t an option.
“I don’t necessarily have my own car right now,” he said. McBride has classes twice a week at the Lakeshore campus. “I honestly prefer more in-person classes. It’s easier to learn face-to-face for me. And online, I don’t necessarily get the same learning experience as an in-person class.”
The campus has nine classrooms and four computer labs. Other labs include biology, chemistry, electronics, automation, welding and machine tooling.
“They had to rip up the flooring for this particular (room) and fortify it because the equipment is so heavy,” Muller-Trinh said about the Hydraulics and Pneumatics lab.
The Lakeshore Campus offers several certificates and associate’s degrees in industrial maintenance and machinery, business programs, information technology and more.
