Students looking for a fun night life in Ames know about Campustown. It has been engraved into our brains since freshman year. We walk down the street with our new T-shirts and lanyards on and we pass Welch Avenue, the golden road of upperclassmen cutting loose.

Every new student looks forward to the days when they can finally walk into a bar in Campustown and take their opportunity to be a true, legal bar goer, but there is a dark cloud looming over the party scene we care about so dearly, and its name is Kingland Systems.

We students now know that the plans are official for Kingland Systems, which is well on its way to changing the face of Campustown. This is going to change the “scene” of campus town in a huge way. If the two large apartment complexes are both being used for student housing for freshmen, and Kingland Systems being the new face of Campustown the night-life is dramatically going to decrease in the area. Businesses such as Charlie Yolks bar are going to be moved from their locations and the whole front side of Campustown is going to be refaced.

What part of “campus” are we leaving in Campustown?

As a new student coming to Iowa State the campus was the first thing that sold me, but there is so much more to a university than where you take classes. If I wanted to study I could go to the library, if I was hungry I could go to the MU, and if I wanted to go out on a Friday night with my friends I could go to Campustown. When new students come in to look at Iowa State University are they going to be turned away by the giant face of Kingland Systems lying right across the street?

What is Kingland bringing to the table for us? If Kingland is going to be our new neighbors we students should take advantage of their assets. Kingland Systems will bring many jobs to the Ames community which is great if you are ready to be hired, but we are college students and not all of us are ready to go to the work force, even for part-time jobs. Luckily it seems that Kingland Systems is going to have many internships available. Becoming an intern for Kingland will bring the internship right to you, no travel necessary. Kingland will be offering great internships, especially if you are in a field of study in technology. It’s a smart move on their part to move in right next to a school of science and technology.

Having Kingland Systems in the area could help some businesses. The employees will be needing a lunch break, therefore, the local food businesses in the area can thrive during Kingland’s lunch hour. Same goes for gas stations and even the tanning salons. The only businesses that could take potential pitfalls from Kingland moving into campus town would be local bars and perhaps tattoo and piercing companies. They could even come to the final conclusion of having to relocate.

What does this now mean for the businesses that are going to have to relocate from the area? Will businesses stay in campus town? If businesses that are being moved out of their buildings start to relocate, loyal customers may choose to follow them. If Charlie Yolks decides that they want to set up shop in West Ames and all of their loyal customers follow, the other bars and clubs in Campustown are going to lose that cliental. What is going to stop them from also picking up and moving? Soon all of our campus town originals could move to a new location and we could be left with corporate buildings taking over our once beloved campus town.

We must stand strong is our love and support for Campustown businesses. Kingland is coming whether we would like it to or not. We students should take advantage of what Kingland Systems has to offer, internships to help students and jobs to support the Ames community all while staying true to our campus town originals. Let us not fully let go of what campus town is supposed to be, an area of the community for the community, especially students.