By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
These are not the best of times for higher education, nor is it the best of times for amusement parks.
So, Friday, when Bowling Green State University and Cedar Fair marked the opening of Falcon Point Lofts the new home for the Cedar Fair Resort and Attractions Management program, known as RAAM, in downtown Sandusky, it was a statement of faith in the post-COVID future.
“We get a chance to celebrate in a year that we don’t have a lot to celebrate,” said Betty Montgomery, chair of the Board of Trustees.
The multipurpose, 78,000-square-foot facility houses classrooms, common spaces, and apartment-style housing for the community and students in the RAAM program. It opened in September.
RAAM was described as a one-of-kind program in the country. Students enter the program after completing their first two undergraduate years at BGSU or another institution. They study a wide range of topics including business management, finance, risk management, human resources, and supply chain management.
These courses, said Swathi Ravichandran, professor and founding director of the RAAM program, are taught by faculty who have both academic credentials and industry experience.
Each student will be required to complete two summer internships in a Cedar Fair facility. These internships are paid and tailored to meet their particular interests.
Cedar Fair operates 13 parks across the country as well as sports complexes and other amusement facilities.
The trustees approved the program in December 2018. Then chair of the trustees, Dan Keller, was a driving force behind the effort. Keller was corporate vice president and general manager of Cedar Point having served in other positions with Cedar Fair, including as a youth making candy apples at the park.
The RAAM program will be “a differentiator” for BGSU as it brings together “the best in higher education and the best in entertainment,” he said. The program will give BGSU a head start in the post-COVID world.
Chancellor of Higher Education Randy Gardner said that the term public-private partnerships is often bandied about. “It doesn’t always ring as true as it does today,” he said.
This project brought together the university, Cedar Fair, the city of Sandusky and Marous Development Group.
“Today is an example that the status quo isn’t good enough anymore,” Gardner said.
Richard Zimmerman, Cedar Fair president and CEO, said the program had its roots in a leadership program that BGSU Firelands helped the company to develop. “One good thing leads to another,” he said.
BGSU President Rodney K. Rogers remembered the discussions at that time. When considering further ways Cedar Fair and BGSU could collaborate, they decided they should “dream big.”
That’s what a public university working for the public good should do, Rogers said. That’s why taxpayers fund them. That includes working with other “anchor institutions” across the state.
“It is the future of higher education,” Rogers said. “Ways in which we connect and partner with others to serve the needs of our community, our region, our state, our nation, and the world, of course.”
The project has been a boon for Sandusky, said City Manager Eric Wobser. He noted that the development of Falcon Point Lofts has spurred other projects in the neighborhood – seven houses refurbished, an empty building turned into a $3 million housing project, and empty lot turned into a gym.
All that was possible, he said, because “we collectively took that empty parking lot and have turned it into a beacon that will attract investment and will educate future.”
