University of Central Arkansas officials will host a ribbon cutting ceremony to signal the completion of the new student amphitheater. The ceremony will be held at 1:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 7.
The 200-seat amphitheater, located between the Student Center and Old Main, includes an elevated grass area, stage, and cast concrete seating. The UCA Alumni Association’s Legacy Walk surrounds the amphitheater.
The amphitheater is a part of “Think Big! Project,” a Student Government Association initiative that allows students, faculty and staff to submit proposals that would benefit the UCA community. Spencer Sims, president of the Student Government Association, said the project started in 2010 by former SGA president Meghan Thompson.
“It’s been something we’ve been pushing for and are excited about,” Sims said. “It’s really going to benefit student life.”
UCA President Tom Courtway said the project blends very well with the other university buildings, and provides students with another venue to gather, visit and have performances.
“The amphitheater and the Legacy Walk provide students, alums, faculty, staff and visitors with a place to visit and enjoy the beauty of the UCA campus,” he said. “We hope it will become a gathering place not only for students, but for alums and visitors to our campus.”
The UCA Alumni Association has also contributed a significant idea to the amphitheater with the Legacy Walk, Courtway said.
“This will become a great tradition,” he added.
The alumni association felt the amphitheater project provided a great opportunity to expand the current Legacy Walk, said Haley Fowler, assistant director of alumni services. The Legacy Walk begins with the graduates from 1909, the first graduating class year at UCA.
“This project has been extra special for me, not only because I served on the amphitheater committee but my family has four generations represented with eight bricks in the Legacy Walk,” Fowler said.
Linda Beene-Ballard, who graduated in 1972, said she purchased a brick to express her pride in being a UCA graduate.
“Displaying my name in a public way on campus reiterates my feeling that my undergraduate education at UCA was very good quality and prepared me for a successful career in higher education,” she said.
Wale Mohammed, vice president of the alumni association, said the Legacy Walk is important to UCA because it helps to further associate its graduates to the institution.
“It will create new bonds and strengthen existing ones, as decades from now, graduates will visit the site and will recollect their fondest memories of the amphitheater and their college experience overall,” he said.
Alums can still purchase a brick with their names, year of graduation and other information. The bricks will be placed with other classmates’ bricks around the amphitheater. For more information about the Legacy Walk, visit uca.edu/legacywalk.
