Candace Caldwell/Contributing Writer
Most FIU students are familiar with the Modesto Madique and the Biscayne Bay Campuses, however, not many students are aware of the University satellite locations, such as the Pines Center in Broward County.
According to Diana Arcentales, Pines Center Student Life Coordinator, classes have been held in Davie and Fort Lauderdale since 1983, but it wasn’t until the Pines Center opened in the spring semester of 2003 that an Academic Center was created.
Academic programs at Undergraduate and Graduate levels are offered at the Pines Center in the areas of Business, Arts & Sciences, Education, Construction Management, Engineering, Public Administration and Liberal Studies. The satellite campus will also be offering a MBA in Health Care as early as January 2012.
The Pines Center shares a building with a charter high school, and this co-habitation among other factors makes it difficult to foster camaraderie and pride among students on campus.
“The majority of students at the FIU Pines Center are non-traditional students and are balancing careers, families and school. They are not straight out of high school. They have extensive commitments outside of the University, and many attend on a part-time basis,” said Arcentales. “Events that are planned at the Pines Center differ from those offered at BBC or MMC,” said Arcentales. “They are on a much smaller scale because we are located in a building that we share during the daytime with a charter high school.”
The Pines Center uses its lobby to host most of their events. Doing so, they are able to gain the attention of students heading to and from class giving them little opportunity not to participate in the event.
FIU’s Pines Center inhabits one wing of the building where classrooms, a small lounge, and vending machines accommodate its students. The campus does not have a cafeteria but there is a small bookstore.
Emmanuel Okwor, who attends classes at the Pines Center, believes the non-traditional students that attend the Pines Center just don’t have the time to develop the sense of community that may be present on the Modesto Maidique Campus or the Biscayne Bay Campus, and although it may be a challenge, it is possible.
“It is hard, but not impossible to get them involved in some of our activities. We are a small but mighty campus and are family-oriented in a friendly environment,” said Okwor.
Although a student may not get what many call the “college experience” at a satellite campus like the Pines Center, there are some advantages to attending a smaller, remote campus. For instance parking is much easier to find on the Pines Center.
As Student Life Coordinator, Arcentales says she is doing her best to make the University experience the best possible for students, but lack of space, resources and plain old Panther Pride limit what can be done.
It is true that Pines students have many commitments outside the University, but attending school is a commitment in its own right.
Jennifer Hanlon, a junior majoring in Liberal Arts, takes a class at the Pines Center and for her, that sense of community is the least of her worries.
“I don’t care about camaraderie. I just want to do my thing and go home.” Then she added, “But you know, if they at least had a little coffee shop or something, I’d probably hang around more. I go to Starbucks and get a cup of coffee and sit in the Pines Center parking lot in my car and drink my coffee and that’s not very much fun.”
About Post Author
