The clacks of pools balls colliding and students laughing spill out from a newly reimagined space on the first floor of the UBalt Student Center.
The space formerly used as a bookstore has been transformed into a game room with pool tables, foosball, an air hockey table, board games, TVs and gaming consoles. Fitting of a place for Bees hanging out, the room will keep the name The Hive.
Pascal Takli, an MBA student specializing in cybersecurity management, challenged Michael Claxton, an MPA student, to a game of air hockey during a soft opening of the game room.
“I think this is a fantastic space just to relax your mind,” he said. “Especially when it gets to the harder parts of the semester—midterms, finals—this is a good space to actually divert from all the heaviness that comes with academic burden and just find somewhere to relax.”
Claxton agreed.
“I love it because it hosts a vibrant space on campus where everyone can see what UBalt has to offer,” he said.
Nearby, Dhem Stark, a B.S. in Business Administration major with an accounting concentration, was taking a break from a foosball game with fellow business student, Diarra Scott.
Stark said she appreciated that the game room was moved up from its original location in the lower level of the Student Center so more students can find and use the space. Scott added that having the bigger space is more likely to bring people together.
“It’s terrific to have it here where we can all see it,” Stark said. “Everybody wants to come in now.”
