The Anderson Student Center celebrated its five-year anniversary over convo hour on Jan. 31 with free food, balloons and a display of the building’s original blueprints.

The ASC opened its doors in Jan. 2012 and has become a hub for student activities such as dining, entertainment, studying, club activities and more. David Lemon, ASC building director, described the building as the new “geographical center of the St. Paul campus.”

Today, hundreds of students stream through the building daily, but it was not always this way. Before the ASC was built, the Murray Herrick Center served as the student center. Now it houses many of the university’s administrative offices and classrooms. The opening of the ASC helped alleviate the situation that Lemon described as “cluttered” and “inconvenient.”

The ASC provides a wide variety of recreational, educational and job opportunities for students outside of class. Student clubs regularly meet on the building’s upper floors, and venues like the View, T’s and Scooters offer students paying, part-time jobs.

On top of these facilities, the building use is still developing. Last year, major changes came to the ASC allowing any students to reserve upper rooms for study purposes year-round, as well as the opening of the Makerspace.

Lemon said he is happy with the direction the student center is taking citing the Makerspace as one of the major developments within the ASC. He described it as “a place where students with creative ideas can bring them to life.”

Electrical engineering graduate student, Tam Kemabonta, agreed with Lemon. He visits the student center quite often to eat, study and sometimes just to hang out.

“I think it’s amazing,” Kemabonta said. “I couldn’t imagine if we didn’t have a student center.”

Joe Molohon can be reached at molo6474@stthomas.edu