Plans are in the making for IVC
Irvine Valley College President Glenn R. Roquemore divulged on many new things the college has planned for the future.
A new outdoor amphitheatre will be built on campus to serve the needs of students who are involved with the arts, a clock tower will be built on behalf of U.S. veterans of war, and more.
“Currently we are excited about working on an outdoor amphitheatre,” said Roquemore. “This is an area that is undeveloped on the campus right now and it’s become important because it’s become surrounded by buildings so there is a real needed to do something with it.”
“We found that within our budget [….] we could actually put little tiers [at the future site of the amphitheatre] and create an outdoor venue,” said Roquemore. “We will be able to have all of our performance groups […] utilize that whenever the weather is nice and during the summer. I look forward to some outdoor concerts and outdoor theater there.”
Construction for the amphitheatre will begin in a couple of months.
Along with creating the outdoor theatre another structure is scheduled to be built soon.
As part of the amphitheatre, a veterans memorial clock tower will be built. It will be a clock tower that will not only serve as a veterans memorial but will also resemble the original IVC wooden clock tower that was built in 1979 but had to be taken down due to damage and safety issues.
It will be located adjacent from the amphitheater.
Some of the proceeds will go to benefit the U.S. veterans of war. IVC now has half of the money from one donor to make the construction possible; the other half still needs to be raised.
“It will be important to our veterans and our returning troops to have sort of an identity on the campus,” said Roquemore. “We value them and the service that they have done for us.”
Another new addition to the IVC campus is a huge poster on the Student Services building of a thermometer, which is for something called PRO IVC.
About ten years ago, PRO IVC was developed by the IVC foundation for the purposes of raising money. Though “over time it kind of went by the wayside,” said Roquemore. “So, the foundation, just last year, decided to reinstitute that.” The foundation is required to make a certain amount of money available. Once the money is acquired, IVC then goes out and raises new funds. However, the school cannot use existing funds. But as each department raises new funds for themselves, a lot of faculty become involved. The money earned will be matched with the foundation funds, so in the end twice as much money is earned for the program.
As a result of this concept, IVC raised a quarter of a million dollars last year. Their goal for this year is to raise the same amount.
IVC also had its last celebration for its 25th anniversary on Oct. 25. “…what’s coming up next is actually tonight (Oct. 25). We’re going to have a six minute DVD that kind of goes back into our history a little bit. We’ll have a cake there to be cut and then I just have a few short words of thank you…it should be no more than 10 minutes total,” said Roquemore.