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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

$1.5 Million Challenge Will Help Build the PAC at MCC


Yesterday, Jan. 17, Arunas Chesonis, CEO of PAETEC Communications, and his wife, MCC Alumna Pamela Chesonis, pledged the Chesonis Family Foundation’s support for the building of a new fitness and recreational facility on MCC’s Brighton Campus. The couple announced that their foundation would match every dollar donated to the facility’s capital campaign, up to $1.5 million.

In May, the MCC Foundation, which raises private funds to support MCC, began the quiet phase of a $12 million capital campaign to build the new fitness and recreational facility.  The college secured a $6 million grant from New York State, and its foundation launched a capital initiative to raise the remaining $6 million needed to complete the project. To date, the MCCF has raised $2.7 million in private gifts.

The announcement—that the Chesonis Family Foundation will match every subsequent dollar raised for the new facility up to $1.5 million—could potentially add an additional $3 million to the campaign, edging the college closer to its campaign goal.  In appreciation for this generosity, MCC will name the facility "The PAC" after Pamela Ann Chesonis, who graduated from the college in 1978.

"Monroe Community College is a powerful force in our community, delivering an economic impact of more than $700 million each year," said Arunas Chesonis, honorary chair of the Monroe Community College Foundation capital campaign. "The PAC will be a vital component to the college’s future growth, and we’re thrilled to be able to help make that happen."

The future 53,000-square-foot PAC will provide the college’s 35,000 students with a 140-foot by 240-foot synthetic-turf, multi-purpose field as well as a three-lane jogging track, a weight training and fitness human performance lab, locker rooms, coaches’ offices and a training room. It will be connected to existing athletic facilities, expanding the available space for physical education classes, sports teams, intramural and recreational leagues, and individual fitness use.

In addition to student and college usage, The PAC will welcome local community groups to use the facility for their events.

"The Chesonis family knows firsthand that modern recreational facilities will help students feel even more satisfied with their MCC experience," said R. Thomas Flynn, president of MCC. "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. The announcement today is more than a challenge; it is one of the keys to ongoing student success."

Construction on The PAC is expected to begin in September 2007 and to be completed by fall 2008. Clough Harbour & Associates LLP has been selected as architects for the facility.

For more information on the new PAC at MCC or on how to contribute to the campaign, please visit HYPERLINK "
https://www.monroecc.edu/go/pac/" or call the MCC Foundation at 585.262.1500.

Rosanna Condello
College and Community Relations
01/18/2007