The campus of Winston-Salem State University is expanding. Over the weekend, students and school officials celebrated the opening of the new Donald Julian Reaves Student Activities Center.

“The building is important to us because we had no facilities on campus designed for fitness, so this is the only building for that. There is a fireplace, locker rooms, a game room and even space for a barber and beauty salon,” says Aaron Singleton, director of news and media relations for Winston-Salem State University

The building is 95,000 square feet. It has three floors, and also houses a new food court and meeting spaces for students and staff. The new activities center at WSSU is named after the school's chancellor, Dr. Donald Julian Reaves.

Singleton says studies show facilities like this increase student satisfaction, which also has a direct impact on student retention. Currently, the university's student population is more than 6,000.

Singleton says the new activities center fits nicely into the university's strategic master plan.

“With this new building, with some of the new residential facilities and most recently with the legislature approving our right to purchase Bowman Gray Stadium, it will allow us to offer more community and learning activities,” says Singleton.

The $25-million project was made possible by a grant from the state capitol fund in 2006. Singleton says the recession and budget cutbacks delayed construction of the project until 2011. The official ribbon cutting for the new activities center was held on Friday.

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