As the weather warms up in the Valley, students are eagerly looking for cool spots to spend their free time in the spring. Meanwhile, members of Undergraduate Student Government Downtown seek new ways to get more students to come cool off at the campus' scenic rooftop pool.
Bryce Newberry, USGD's director of local affairs, said something has been missing at the downtown Sun Devil Fitness Complex's rooftop pool: a food bar.
"I personally spend a lot of time at the pool and in spending that time at the pool, I started to notice what seemed to be a need for some sort of food or refreshment option for students," Newberry said. "A lot of students that I talk to up there end up leaving the pool because they were hungry."
Newberry shared that USGD has talked about working with the SDFC to provide a place where students could get refreshments while at the pool. In fact, others at the downtown campus feel that adding an area where students could grab food or drinks would be a nice addition to the facility.
"They would definitely love it," said Anthony Colucci, communications sophomore and SDFC employee.
Newberry said USGD is mainly focused on looking into providing the most convenient amenities for students in order to help them enjoy the warm weather at ASU. To gather student opinions, USGD developed a survey to determine whether students feel the need for an addition to the pool.
During an event hosted last week by the USGD, Newberry said members initially created and piloted the survey.
"Since last Wednesday, we're up to 161 survey responses, and that survey is still open," Newberry said.
Though the survey seems to be getting a fair amount of feedback, Newberry said USGD relies upon responses in order to decide whether the student government members should move forward with the idea.
Although USGD members are eager to see their addition to the rooftop pool, other students have concerns about whether the new plans for SDFC may go awry.
"I don't know about (the food bar's) being stationed up here at the pool," Colucci said. "It could create a bit of a mess maybe somewhere else in the building."
Other students, such as nonprofit and leadership management freshman Suhey Ortega, feel the idea of a food bar at the pool isn't realistic because students only use the pool during a few months of the school year.
"I think it would be really cool if they added that, but I think what concerns me is resources being wasted," Ortega said.
Although anticipation for the food bar grows as Arizona's temperature increases to triple digits, Newberry said the most important step is ensuring students are interested in the idea.
"We're just collecting student feedback right now so we can determine whether or not if it's something we should look into further," Newberry said.
Related links:
Downtown students, get to know your 2016-17 executives
Future USG downtown vice president charged with "nonfeasance" by senators
Reach the reporter at jdivy1@asu.edu or follow @joydanielleivy on Twitter.
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