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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

MCC Coaches, Community Receive PAC Update


RNews, 13WHAM and FOX/WROC 8 reported on the June 28 MCC Coaches Conference hosted by the Monroe Community College Foundation at Frontier Field. The event highlighted the importance of creating health and wellness opportunities for young adults and provided the latest information on the PAC Center and the campaign that will make it a reality. The conference was the brainchild of Dixon Schwabl Advertising—partners of the MCC Foundation.

Democrat & Chronicle sports reporter Scott Pitoniak moderated the conference. New Jersey Devils Star Brian Gionta provided the keynote address and talked about the impact MCC’s new PAC Center will have on the community.

“Growing up in Rochester and now raising my own family here, I understand the importance of providing young adults with opportunities to succeed in our area,” said Gionta, adding that the value of the PAC Center to the student body and the MCC community will be immense. “The new facility will encourage students and athletes to stay on campus after class, taking pride in their school and the community.”

In May 2006, the MCC Foundation launched a capital initiative to raise $6 million needed to build the PAC Center. To date, the foundation has raised $4.5 million in private gifts. The effort has been strengthened by a commitment by Arunas Chesonis, CEO of PAETEC Communications, and his wife, MCC alumna Pamela Chesonis, who pledged the Chesonis Family Foundation’s support for the building of the facility on MCC’s Brighton Campus. In January, the couple announced that their foundation would match every dollar donated to the facility’s capital campaign, up to $1.5 million.

“Having the MCC coaches together today to address the importance of the PAC Center reinforces their commitment to student success,” said Brenda Babitz, president of the MCC Foundation. “The PAC will enable MCC to meet the needs of a student body that has grown significantly in the last two decades, while promoting wellness on campus and community involvement.”

Valarie Avalone, Planning, and Andy Pappalardo, associate with Clough Harbour & Associates, LCC, the engineering and architectural firm who designed the PAC Center, shared the latest renderings of the facility with Athletics Director Murph Shapiro and his staff. Construction of the 53,000 square foot facility will begin in August, nearly doubling the available space for college and community events.

For more information on the PAC or how to donate to the facility, please visit "https://www.monroecc.edu/go/foundation" or call x1500.

Pictured below: A) The MCC Foundation and Frontier Field welcome MCC Coaches to the first-ever Coaches Conference. B) Rochester native and New Jersey Devils star Brian Gionta shares his thoughts about creating fitness opportunities for people within our community with the MCC coaching staff and others.

Rosanna Condello
Public Affairs
07/03/2007