Cell service is a high priority for students on campus, according to student government Campus Development Committee Chairman Nick DiGiorgio.

DiGiorgio said that he and campus development committee members have been looking into cell phone boosters.

Better services will be provided with putting antennas on buildings, DiGiorgio said.

According to DiGiorgio, each cell phone booster costs approximately $4,000.

He said committee members are going to see whether they can include these into the university’s budget for the seven-year renovation plan to buildings.

“For now, as a test run, we’re looking to see if we can get one here in the Student Union since it’s highly trafficked,” he said.

Pricing for that has yet to be determined, said DiGiorgio.

He said committee members have also discussed quicker laundry service.

According to DiGiorgio, the university has to use an outside company to fix broken laundry machines.

“We have to order the part, the part has to come in and somebody has to come in and install it. So that’s why it takes weeks to a month at a time.”

DiGiorgio said that while he was living in the Living/Learning Center last year, there were about six to seven washing machines for about 300 students. At least two would break, leaving him to do laundry at 2 or 3 a.m.

DiGiorgio isn’t the only one whose laundry schedule had to be adjusted back. Freshman Jessica Numer said that, when she came back from Thanksgiving break, she couldn’t do her laundry because of broken washers.

Freshman Carolyn Zeis said that better cell and laundry service would be a good improvement to the school.

“I think it would be a good idea. It would actually increase the efficiency of the laundry service and the cell service because, in my dorm, it (cell service) cuts out all of the time,” Zeis said.

The solution to address the problem is still being discussed.

DiGiorgio has proposed that Pitt-Johnstown Finance and Administration Vice President Amy Buxbaum review the contract they have with their current washing machine service provider to see whether there is a way they can expedite shipping of parts to get a faster repair.

Digiorgio said it also might be better if someone were more available to repairing machines.

“Seek a financial means of obtaining more (washing machines). Whether that comes from budgeting in future years or grants or however we can get money for more units,” DiGiorgio said.

DiGiorgio said he proposed to have an outside vendor in Johnstown who would take students’ laundry, clean it, and bring it back for students to pick up.

He said students would have to pay a dollar or two to have their laundry done.

Better cell and laundry service isn’t the only thing being proposed.

According to DiGiorgio, campus administrators are proposing to make a student leadership award.

“There’s plenty of scholarships available to students on campus, but I know for myself it never seems to get to me. I (wondered) how can we give back to students who are in the similar situation. So we had the idea to create a scholarship in which it would be a $50,000 endowment set up through Pitt-Johnstown,” DiGiorgio said.

“We decided to create an endowment sponsored by the student government, in which we’re going to fundraise $50,000, and, once we get the amount, we’re going to leave it in the endowment fund and then the interest will in perpetuity raise $2,500 every spring semester for us to award to students,” DiGiorgio said.

DiGiorgio said that the way they will award students the scholarship is still up for debate.

“The criteria hasn’t been exactly set but we have an idea that we want to inspire leadership among our peers.

“So, going forward, we would like to see probably at least a 3.0 GPA, a student who is actively involved in an organization on campus and holds an officer position within their club,

“And then write a letter to Student Government how they have bettered the campus and why they feel they are eligible for the scholarship,” DiGiorgio said.