More than 130 people turned out for Friday's groundbreaking ceremony for Penn State Worthington Scranton's new Business Building.
The new $5.9-million building will offer a trading room, technology rich classrooms, a tiered lecture hall, spacious conference room, and a cyber café, in addition to classroom and faculty office spaces.
Chancellor Mary-Beth Krogh-Jespersen addressed the crowd, which gathered at the site of the future building. "We at Worthington Scranton are very proud of this new addition to our campus, and we are grateful to everyone that was involved in helping us make this dream a reality," she said.
Guests included local and state dignitaries, as well as officials from Penn State's University Park campus, benefactors, directors, alumni, faculty, staff and students.
Sen. Robert Mellow, a major supporter of this initiative at Penn State Worthington, was one of the keynote speakers at the event and praised the effort and what it meant for the campus, as well as the local community.
Miranda Lazar, a Worthington Scranton student and president of the campus's Business Club, expressed the appreciation that she and her fellow students have for the new building and what it will mean for them and future students. She said the new building that will be constructed was a perfect fit for the club's motto, "Its Everybody's Business".
"This building is everybody's business," she said. "Those who helped fund it, those who will teach in it, those who will learn in it, those who will work in it, as well as the community's interaction with it. This building will involve all of these people. This building is the reason why we are all here today."
Construction on the new building will begin this month and continue through the latter part of 2008.
View the GroundBreaking Ceremony Photo Album