IN PHOTOS: Multipurpose gym, admin annex, agromet station, and other new infra projects in VSU Villaba

The facade of the new gymnasium of VSU Villaba has just been completed as part of the 8-million second phase infusion to complete this multipurpose edifice.

VSU Villaba, the smallest component campus of the VSU system in terms of student population, completes its new infrastructure projects in a push to attract more enrollees in the coming years.

For the first semester of the new school year, VSU Villaba only registered a total of 749 students giving the component campus a faculty to student ratio of 1:19.

VSU Villaba Chancellor Maria Jehan P. Libre acknowledged this main challenge in an exclusive interview. She bared that this is also the reason why they are pursuing more tangible campus development projects that will hopefully attract more local students to enroll in their undergraduate offerings.

“I think the new infrastructure that we have shown you will have a bearing in promoting our campus and thereby attracting more students in the future. When our locals here get to visit us and see how the campus is growing in terms of new buildings, it somehow convinces them to consider us for their college degree. That's why we are very much grateful for all these new projects that have been poured by Dr. Tulin’s administration to VSU Villaba,” Dr. Libre explained.

Among the biggest infra-boosts in VSU Villaba is the completion of the 14-million multipurpose gymnasium that can fully accommodate all the students of VSU Villaba including all the faculty members in a single event.

The interior of the VSU Villaba multipurpose gymnasium showcasing the spacious indoor activity area from the entrance to the stage.

The construction of this multipurpose gym was started in 2015 during the administration of former VSU President Jose L. Bacusmo with an initial allotment of 6 million pesos.

Under Dr. Edgardo Tulin's administration, an additional 8 million pesos was infused in 2018 to construct perimeter fencing, reflooring, and an expansion of the back of the gym with provision of a covered facade that serves as main entrance to the multipurpose hall.

This newly completed gymnasium was in fact used in a limited face-to-face admission examination administered to freshmen applicants who had no access to the internet. Chancellor Libre adds that the new gym allowed them to practice the recommended social distancing protocols set by the local government.

“Yes, we used it in the VSU-CAT because most of our target students had no access to the internet. The spacious area of the new gym allowed us to practice social distancing among the VSU-CAT takers. It was also a relief for us that the gym has an open court design that allows free flow of the air making it safe for a limited face-to-face exam,” Dr. Libre said.

On top of the completed gym, a small annex of the campus administration building was also recently turned over to VSU Villaba.

The first level of the new admin annex has also been completed in VSU Villaba with the completion of its second level being prioritized for the next set of infrastructure projects of the said campus.

This administration building annex is expected to be occupied by the cash, accounting, and budget offices which will give better security for financial safekeeping. Also, a small room located at the back of this building will soon be occupied by their supply office.

A total of 2 million pesos was spent in constructing the annex building of the VSU Villaba administration building.

Another newly completed infrastructure in VSU Villaba is the agrometeorological station (agromet), a donation of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the provincial government of Leyte through the office of Governor Leopoldo Dominico L. Petilla.

The newly acquired agromet station of VSU Villaba was installed at the left side of the campus entrance.

VSU Villaba is the only component campus of VSU to acquire such an equipment while the VSU Main Campus has long been maintaining an agromet station in its lower campus.

An agromet station is mainly used for remote data acquisition that measures wind speed and direction, air temperature, humidity, rain amount, duration, and its intensity. These data are vital for agricultural industries that require local forecasts in order to efficiently make use of the changing weather conditions brought about by climate change.

This equipment will also be useful for agriculture students in VSU Villaba who would like to pursue research related to climate forecasting and its impact on growing different kinds of agricultural crops.

Lastly, two agriculture laboratories were also refurbished with new research equipment and some needed fixtures.

The VSU administration appropriated a total of 3.1 million pesos for the improvement of the crop science laboratory and the animal science laboratory of VSU Villaba.

Chancellor Libre revealed that these newly-refurbished laboratories will be useful not only for agriculture students but also for teacher education students who are pursuing a major in biological science.

The facade of the crop science laboratory of VSU Villaba which serves as a shared facility for both agriculture and teacher education students majoring in biological science.

With all these developments, Chancellor Libre is hopeful that these new infrastructure will make way for a significant increase in their student enrollment especially for those who are coming from Villaba and other neighboring towns.

She also bared that future projects that they will soon pursue includes the construction of a 22 million pesos new library building, and a 3.5 million pesos access road project to concretize the extension road network of the campus from the barangay highway.

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