Jessica Giessman threw her arms around Viper, a yellow Labrador retriever, and looked up at a UF police officer with puppy-dog eyes.
“Can I have him?” she asked.
The UF criminology sophomore was missing her two German shepherds, so when she heard UFPD would bring the K-9 unit outside Newell Hall for the one-year anniversary event, she cleared her schedule.
Giessman and about 3,000 other students gathered at Newell Hall on Tuesday to celebrate the one year anniversary since its redesign, said Michael Murphy, chair of the Newell Hall Advisory Board. The project cost $16.6 million, according to Alligator archives. Student Government gave out more than 600 T-shirts and about $1,600 worth of coffee from Au Bon Pain.
“I think it’s been a great vicinity for people to really do a new type of studying,” Murphy said. “It sparks creativity.”
The event was meant to celebrate the anniversary of the renovated building without being intrusive to those studying inside, he said.
“We wanted to make sure that we’re kind of fueling the students to study but also at the same time celebrating something that’s been really great,” he said.
Giessman didn’t want to miss an opportunity to celebrate her favorite study space.
The 19-year-old said her favorite spot is on the third floor, where she sits on the couches and watches the light stream in from the windows.
“I fell in love with it,” she said.
Contact Jessica Giles at jgiles@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter at @jessica_giles_.
Andrew Schuffer, an 18-year-old neurobiological sciences freshman, plays ping pong outside Newell Hall Tuesday afternoon with Ariana Johnson, a 19-year-old microbiology and cell science freshman as part of the Newell Hall Block Party which marked the one year anniversary of the building's reopening.
