Bunker Hill Community College broke ground Tuesday, June 10, 2008, for a 48,000-square-foot Health and Wellness Center, the first new building on the Charlestown campus in thirty years. The building will house state-of-the-art classrooms and laboratories supporting students majoring in nurse education and health professions.
«No need surpasses healthcare in our economy,» said Jeanne-Marie Boylan, Chair of the Bunker Hill Community College Board of Trustees, at the groundbreaking ceremony. «This new building enhances the College’s capacity to provide affordable training for jobs in the healthcare industry, close to home.»
Nearly 200 dignitaries, neighbors, students, faculty and staff gathered at the building site for the event. Two legislators responsible for shepherding the project through the legislative process-retired state Senator Jarrett T. Barrios and state Representative Eugene L. O’Flaherty- joined Boylan, BHCC President Mary L. Fifield, Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management Commissioner David B. Perini, state Senator Anthony D. Galluccio, BHCC Foundation President Anne M. Hyde and BHCC Student Government Association President Anne-Aurore Dorval to turn the first shovelfuls of earth.
Representing the student body at the event, Anne-Aurore Dorval said, «Over the last nine years, Bunker Hill Community College students have contributed $450,000 to this project through the Student Government Association. We are proud to be part of the future of this College.»
The new structure, at a cost of $22.7 million, will also provide additional faculty and administrative offices, a gymnasium and a fitness center. Engineered to take advantage of natural light, conserve water and reduce energy requirements for heating and cooling, the building is expected to meet requirements for LEED Silver Certification.
Bunker Hill Community College is the largest community college in Massachusetts. The College enrolls almost 9,000 students on two campuses and at five satellite locations each semester. Some 1,700 students take classes online. BHCC is one of the most diverse institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth. Six in ten students are people of color and more than half of BHCC’s students are women. The College also enrolls more than 640 international students who come from more than 103 countries and speak 75 different languages.
