The Anderson Student Center has had several changes in its first year, but one change in the coming year will sense the presence of guests.

Mary Ann Ryan, associate vice president for student affairs, said that starting spring semester, people counters will be installed at each entrance to count how many people use the building in a given day.

“It’ll be able to tell if you’re walking into the building,” Ryan said.

Ryan said other changes to the student center happened during winter break, such as new material on the walls near Campus Way, in the View, and inside Scooter’s. The changes were made to improve the durability of the walls.

“The beauty of the building is its openness and the way students have just really owned it,” Ryan said. “It’s a place where people are brought together, and that’s what creating community is all about.”

Sophomore Tommie Central worker Julia Lerner said she enjoys working at the student center because of the different people she gets to interact with daily.

“You have the students, but then you also have professors and people who are working in the building,” Lerner said. “It’s a really good mix of community members, students, faculty and staff.”

Graduate student employee Brienne Jans said that throughout the day, Tommie Central takes down the number of students who are in the building. Jans said there is a noticeable increase in numbers over the past year.

“I think people are kind of realizing everything that the student center has to offer and really using the space for what it was meant to be used for which is great,” Jans said. “We love to see that.”

Lerner said she enjoys having a student center that can accommodate all the organizations on campus.

“It’s really organized. Everything seems to have a place; everything has a home there,” Lerner said. “It’s all in one place which is really nice.”

Senior Tom Holschuh said he enjoys the ‘85 room because it provides a nice break in the midst of studying.

“I appreciate having a place to relax in the middle of campus,” Holschuh said.

One place in the building that Lerner said doesn’t get as much use is the Aveda Salon, located in the basement.

“It’s less accessible to a lot of students just because of the expense, but the students who are willing to pay for it use it, and it’s handy to have it there,” Lerner said.

Caroline Rode can be reached at rode8318@stthomas.edu.