Dozens of students and administrators packed Kerr Hall East 223 on Wednesday for conversation, cake, and an initial look at the Faculty of Science’s first dedicated community space.

When it was shuttered at the end of October, the lounge was bland — a concrete box in an obscure part of the building. 

“It was a terrible room,” says Darrick Heyd, the Faculty of Science’s associate dean of undergraduate programs and student affairs. “The only thing I ever saw anybody doing in it was sleeping on the little couches.”

Today, it has transformed into a bright, airy space with whiteboards, tables, and comfortable chairs. The future will bring the addition of computers, projectors, tutors to help students and free snacks on Fridays.

“I think it’s fabulous. It looks great,” says Imogen Coe, dean of the Faculty of Science. “Sometimes student space can be pushed down into basements and corners and broom closets, and this isn’t any of those things. It’s light, and it’s bright, and it’s welcoming. I think it’s going to serve [students] very well.”

A project like this is normally directed by the administration — but this overhaul sprang from the mind of a student.

“You don’t know how unusual it is that the administration, in all parts, would sit down and essentially hand over a project to students,” says Ryerson’s president Sheldon Levy.

But that was precisely what Ryerson did.

The space overhaul is the brainchild of Aras Reisiardekani, a fourth-year biology major and president of the Ryerson Science Society. He calls the process of bringing the room to fruition a “long, long journey.” 

That journey began two years ago when Reisiardekani saw an “underutilized” space in Kerr Hall that could be put to better use. He sketched up a handwritten draft of his ideas to take to the administration. 

“You need to approach someone with your own faculty or within your own department to support your idea and give you some insight,” Reisiardekani says. 

“My proposal ... had to be able to show that we need a community space because science students don’t have any single room where they will be able to work together.”

He found support of Heyd, the associate dean. 

“He’s been very, very energetic and really involved, and just trying to motivate people into being more involved,” Heyd says. “He’s found a lot of people who wanted to be motivated, but I think they didn’t know really how. His work has really helped them get involved in the university better. He’s been a great influence on this faculty.”

Armed with his approval, Reisiardekani set out to secure the funding he needed to make his vision a reality.

One of the first funding sources he pursued was the Project-Funds Allocation Committee for Students, or P-FACS.

“Any student group or individual student is eligible to apply for P-FACS funding,” says Lesley D’Souza, the committee’s vice-chair and administrator. “Last year, we received over 80 applications, and we funded about 62 of those.”

The fund is paid for by a portion of annual student fees. Sixteen student members vote on the projects they want to support. P-FACS has funded about 5,000 initiatives to date — including the Faculty of Science’s new space.

Reisiardekani recalls that he competed against seven other proposals when he submitted his to P-FACS. 

“You have to defend your proposal ... to show them why you deserve this money,” he said.

Reisiardekani won a chunk of funding from the committee. “It was the highest amount of grant [money] in the history of P-FACS,” he says. Although he cannot divulge the exact budget for the project, he says the P-FACS money wasn’t enough to get the project off the ground. 

“When you get the money from P-FACS and you need more money ... then you have to go talk to your chair,” he says. “For us, because we wanted to make this a space for the faculty, we had to talk to all the chairs.”

Reisiardekani was able to convince the chairs of the science programs to match P-FACS’s funding. Even Coe, the dean of the faculty, chipped in. With a significant amount of money behind him, Reisiardekani reached out to Levy.

“He told me, you know what, if you have the funding so far to be able to do the construction, go ahead … don’t waste the students’ time. The space needs to be ready,” Reisiardekani says.

“We went and sat down with him and we reviewed every single item on our project. He liked it, but he was not satisfied. He was saying … make sure you are getting the best furniture possible, make sure you get the best for our students … make sure this space will be something the students will love, not just like.”

Construction was completed before the end of last year, but Reisiardekani had to wait on the finishing touches. The special-order furniture took time to make, he says, and a card reader had to be installed on the door to protect the equipment inside. 

Reisiardekani is adamant that other students get involved with similar projects on campus.

“I think students should not hesitate if they see an area of need,” he said. “The university is very open. If they are complaining, ‘oh, this is not working,’ maybe they can be the person who fixes it.

“I’m hopeful other students will be inspired by what we’ve done.”