On a campus as busy as Fresno City College, sometimes it can be a mission to find a good, quiet place to study besides the most common spots.
All over campus, students frequent areas where benches and tables are located. But most of those are not necessarily good places to study quietly without any distractions.
Although FCC offers several known resources that are helpful to students, there are many that the campus also offers unknowingly. These hidden places and corners can be a random spot in any building, turned into a student’s own study sanctuary.
One example of a hidden corner at the FCC campus is in the west wing of the reference library, inside the main library. In this corner, there are desks, or carrels, along the back wall where students can sit and do their schoolwork without worrying about distractions or limits on their study space.
David Racki, senior librarian in charge of the reference library as well as the law library, acknowledges that hardly anyone goes into the law library throughout the day on Thursdays when there are mostly paralegal and criminal justice students.
“You can talk anywhere, but you can study here,” Racki said. “There’s never any talking allowed in here.”
Hidden places lack the one-on-one help students may be offered at designated study areas around campus, but quiet and privacy are the trade-offs. Also, students don’t need to worry about getting off a computer after a certain amount of time while the next student waits. Many interior areas inside FCC buildings have electricity outlets where students can plug in a laptop if they have one. There are no Internet restrictions due to the WiFi available on campus.
Some unusual study spaces can be found in plain sight.
In the center of the business quad, Terrance Johnson, a radiology tech major, sat on a bench recently while listening to music on headphones, waiting for his next class. He said that the business quad is, for him, a good study space.
Mary Bennett, also studying in the business building’s quad, said she enjoys the spot. Bennwett, a returning student who also attends Fresno State, said she was impressed with the business quad as a prime study area. She also recommends spots inside the sociology building, as well as her favorite spot behind Yoshino’s.
Another unknown study area is the “Green Room,” located inside the Theater Arts building. This small room, meant for students to study, can be used by music students and has become a lounge of sorts for music majors. The room, where students often practice and play their instruments, has specific open hours but can also be reserved for meetings or rehearsals.
Exploring campus, students might be surprised that once they become aware of unusual study spaces, they will start to find many new possible places to study in peace.
