The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
GIVING BACK TO MOVE FORWARD
Lake Erie College alumna donates $150K to modernize Garfield Hall for students
“Before the renovation, the lounge was not a place where a student would want to study. I am grateful to the donors for giving Lake Erie College a more studentfriendly and comfortable area to study in.”
—LEC junior Holly Wright-Fletcher
Lake Erie College alumna Gretchen Smith and her husband, George, have donated $150,000 to be used for technology upgrades and modernization of one of the college’s main academic buildings, Garfield Hall.
The upgrades and renovations are in the first-floor main lounge area of the Garfield Center. Additional classroom equipment with smartboard technology, movable desks and tables, projection and sound system upgrades will help link LEC students with the rest of the world, according to a college news release.
With new plug-ins at the tables and comfortable chairs, the Garfield lounge is wellsuited for a college student to take a break in between classes to study, according to LEC junior Holly Wright-Fletcher.
“Before the renovation, the lounge was not a place where
a student would want to study,” Fletcher said.
“I am grateful to the donors for giving Lake Erie College a more studentfriendly and comfortable area to study in.”
According to Smith, technology is constantly changing, and educators must remain on the forefront of those changes in order to provide effective education and to bring their students along.
Smith earned a degree in education in 1962 from Lake Erie College.
Her husband, George, is a graduate in engineering from The Ohio State University, and a co-founder of Wharton-Smith, Inc., a Florida-based construction company.
The company builds academic facilities at various colleges and universities and works in many other areas of heavy construction, according to the release.