The Student Government Association and the Office of Student Engagement stepped foot into their new home and began the moving process April 8.

The Student Engagement Center is a new workspace for SGA, Student Engagement and Registered Student Organizations. The space is in the Guillot University Center and previously housed the on-campus bookstore.

“(SGA) officers will have their offices in (the Student Engagement Center),” said SGA President-elect Sarah Green. “Then (SGA) will be connected to Student Engagement. So we’ll have our adviser in the same office as us. It’ll be a lot more efficient because we’ll all be together.”

The space offers many benefits, said Vice President for Business and Financial Affairs Clinton Carter.

Advantages include “permanent, centrally located student gathering areas and office space, custom designed and specifically tailored for the needs of the SGA and Student Engagement,” Carter said in an email.

There is still much to be done in the new space, said Director of Student Engagement Tyler Thompson.

“We’re going to have an open house in the fall when we get stuff together,” Thompson said. “We’ve still got to order furniture.”

Thompson said employees will work between both locations until the end of the spring semester.

Currently, SGA offices are on the bottom floor of the GUC adjacent to the Lion’s Den Game Room. The SGA Senate, Freshman Forum and the University Program Council meet in GUC 200, Green said.

“But now, the Student Engagement Center will house what is our GUC 200,” she said. “So, it’ll be like our meeting area and the office.”

SGA occupies GUC 200 three times a week for their meetings, Thompson said.

“It frees up (GUC) 200 for other people to be able to use because SGA takes up 200 Monday, Wednesday and Thursday,” Thompson said. “(GUC 200) was (unavailable), so we’re going to be bringing a space for people to meet.”

RSOs will have a new home in the space, too, Thompson said.

“Student groups have more places where they can come if they are brainstorming and need to have a meeting,” Thompson said. “It’s more resources for them.”

Not only will the Student Engagement Center create a think space for RSOs, SGA and Student Engagement will have more storage space, Thompson said.

“We haven’t had space to do what we need to,” Thompson said.

The current SGA offices were previously a faculty and staff lounge, Carter said.

Officials plan to revert it back to its original usage as a faculty and staff lounge, Carter said.

The project reached its completion date ahead of time, Carter said.

“I believe that our original delivery schedule called for a target completion date on or around April 12,” he said.