The-Laker-Issue-Spring-2022

10 | the LAKER campus happenings Nursing expansion gets bigger The College has received a $1.5 million grant to add an additional lab to the Sands Family Center for Allied Health now under construction at the main campus. FLCC broke ground on the $7.2 million expansion and renovation project in June 2021. Later in the year, SUNY notified FLCC that the College would receive $1.5 million through the SUNY 2020 Workforce Development Initiative, which funds projects designed to train people for high-demand jobs. The state has identified health care, and nursing in particular, as a top priority. The project is opening in stages. The renovated area on the third floor of the main campus, which features a new nursing simulation lab, opened in August 2021. The expansion includes more nursing lab and instructional spaces and a fourth floor lobby; it will open in summer 2022. Lakers make FLCC history The women’s volleyball team won the National Junior College Athletic Association, Region III, North A District Championship on Oct. 31. The win marked the Lakers’ first Region III volleyball championship in program history and earned the team a trip to the national tournament in Rochester, Minn., where they placed 7th overall. Team members are, bottom row, from left: Brandy Morrison, Emma Sipos, Meghan Johnson; middle row, from left: Ashley Crider, Alyssa Johnson, Alicia Morrison, Caitlynne Marczyk; top row, from left Hannah DeArmitt, Kayla Fetcie, Emer O’Brien, Oona O’Brien, and Jenna Wallace with coaches Maddy Joseph and Andrew Solomon. The additional 1,800-square-foot science lab and instructional space will be built next to the new lobby and open in 2023. The lab will be equipped with HyFlex technology allowing for simultaneous in-person and remote instruction to support students in health care programs. When complete, the Sands Family Center for Allied Health will allow FLCC to accept 50 percent more students in the two-year registered nursing program and launch a one-year licensed practical nursing program. The College will also use the center to provide certificate training for nurse assistants, home health aides and phlebotomy technicians. The Sands Family Center for Allied Health is named for the chief donor, the Sands Family Foundation, which contributed $3 million to the project. The entrance for the Sands Family Center for Allied Health takes shape at the back of the main campus.