Contributor
Student athletes attending CSU Bakersfield are using a brand new facility.
The Kegley Center For Student Success has moved to a new building located at the old University Grill, which used to be the dining commons for the old dorms.
“This is a necessary space for athletes to be able to come work on studies at basically any time,” said CSUB Athletics Director Kenneth Siegfried. “It provides our students with a lot more resources to succeed.”
Currently, the center is open early in the morning and closes around 9 to 10 p.m., depending on the demand for tutoring.
Jackie Kegley donated $200,000 in 2012 for the first Student Success Center, which opened in April of 2013.
Kegley is a philosophy professor at CSUB, and has served the school in many capacities over the years.
The Kegley Center was a 1,500- square-foot facility, which offered study halls, tutoring and academic advising for student athletes. Unfortunately, it was quickly outgrown.
“The facility was only large enough to accommodate 30 students at a time,” said Dennis Cassidy, graduate assistant for athletics. “Now, the new facility will be able to serve approximately 120 athletes at a time.”
The new center features a study commons, a large computer lab, tutoring areas, a nutrition bar and offices.
“The goal is to bring their academics and life skills to the next [level],” said Siegfried. Typically, athletes are up before dawn and finished with the first practice of the day by 8 a.m. They then clean up and eat breakfast, and then it’s on to classes until 1 to 2 p.m.
Mid-afternoon is the second practice of the day for many teams, with more classes after that.
“There’s going to be more room to study with more supervision and help,” said Lexi Cannon, 19, a communications major and member of the swim team.
One important addition will be the nutrition bar. Until now, many student athletes have not been eating well during the week, since many have to resort to grabbing what they can from the Runner Café, a vending machine or simply skipping meals.
“Students were skipping a lot of meals…we have put in place a nutrition bar so they can get those healthy in-between snacks to help stay focused mentally,” said Siegfried.
Fresh juices, smoothies and snacks, such as baby carrots, will be available.
Athletes who get book scholarships will bring the books back to the Kegley Lending Library at the end of each semester, where the books will be available to be loaned out to other student athletes.
This will help cut down on book expenses for the students.
Since the cost for the original books comes directly from the athletics budget, this program is only available to student athletes.
However, ideas for a lending library for all students are in the infancy stages as well, according to Melissa Bowen, Kegley Center Coordinator.
The new facility is opening in three phases.
Phase I has just been completed, with everything moved over by October.
Phase II fundraising is underway and will feature additional offices for advising and tutoring.
Phase III is still a couple of years out, but will feature additional office and study spaces.
