St. Clair College has officially opened the Patti France Welcome Centre.
The centre, named after former President Dr. Patti France, provides all necessary services for students in one location.
France has been looking to open the centre as a "one-stop-shop" for students for nearly 25 years.
The Welcome Centre includes services for students such as the Registrar's office, Financial Aid, International Student Office and Academic Advising for students all in one space, with a new queuing system, seating areas, and added stations.
In order to offer students services in one location, the college moved all services into the Student Centre, and then into the Gym, however they continued to run out of space - needing a larger area.
France says it's surreal to see her name on the building.
"I never expected the building to be named after me, I just wanted the services to be centralized so that we could serve our students, that's all I ever wanted. So, when they told me I was pretty overwhelmed then."
She says it's very emotional to see this centre completed.
"This is something that I've wanted to do for probably 25 years. Services were decentralized, and students had to go everywhere to a multitude of buildings, different floors, and at every single point they had to wait in line yet again."
Michael Silvaggi, current St. Clair College President, says this Welcome Centre is a great benefit for students.
"Having a new student walk into a building, to a college campus that perhaps they're not familiar with, to say 'go to this table, come to this table, come to this office', using some technology to make things a little bit more simple, and bring down anxiety and so forth."
The Welcome Centre is 16,000 square feet, with a price tag of $10.5-million.
The facility was made possible due to a substantial donation from the College's Alumni Association.
Construction of the centre took 18 months, and was designed by Architecttura Inc., and built by Oscar Construction.
France took over as the sixth president of the college in 2015, and officially retired in June 2024.