St. Clair’s Student Representative Council Opens Its Expanded Student Centre

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Photos contributed by Nik Mladenoski

St. Clair College’s Student Representative Council officially opened its expanded Student Centre on Wednesday.

The opening feature the unveiling of “Nexus”: the state-of-the-art arena and broadcasting facility of Saints Gaming, the college’s esports team, and the associated Esports Administration and Entrepreneurship academic program.

In 2016, St. Clair became one of the first Canadian postsecondary schools to introduce esports as both a varsity pursuit and a program-of-study. In the half-decade since then, Saints Gaming teams have won numerous national and international tournaments and league titles, with their games regularly viewed by hundreds of thousands of esports spectators on streaming services. Earlier this month, its Rocket League squad was included in the Canadian national team participating in the first esports tournament staged in conjunction with the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.

The Student Centre was also dedicated as The Don France Student Commons. The naming pays tribute to the council’s General Manager/Executive Director, Don France, for his quarter-century of mentorship of student leaders and his advocacy on behalf of all students. France’s retirement party will also take place in the Student Centre on the 24th.

The refurbishment of the Student Centre was part of the two-years-long, $23 million construction of the new academic tower at the college. Sitting atop the ground floor Student Centre are two new storeys of classrooms, offices and lounge space, housing the Zekelman Schools of Business and Information Technology.

Other improvements within the Student Centre include student lounges and the college’s main open computer lab. The facility remains the site, also, of an assortment of SRC-owned-and-operated food services (including Griff’s Cavern licensed restaurant), the council’s main office and corporate board-room, and the Genesis Entrepreneurship Centre.