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Ribbon cutting held for new pier built over UL swamp

cypress lake ribbon cutting.JPG
Posted at 3:28 PM, Oct 30, 2019
and last updated 2019-10-30 19:50:48-04

LAFAYETTE, La. - A ribbon cutting was held on Wednesday for the new Cypress Lake Plaza Pier at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

The pier is an educational tool featuring plaques describing the different types of plants and animals in the swamp.

The pier will give a different perspective of the lake being able to see the cypress trees and alligators up close.

"We're actually the only university in the country that does have a swamp right in the middle of their campus," said Ashley Mudd, Executive Director of the Leader Institute of Acadiana.

It extends almost halfway out into the swamp and is designed to hold several hundred people.

The pier is part of the University's master plan. In 2011, when Mudd led the student government team as president, they introduced the student assess fee to fund the master plan to the students. The team spent several months working with students on what the campus could look like in order to pass the fee.

"Really our goal was to help our students see the vision, see what the school could look like and why we should make an investment into the future of our campus," said Mudd. "So this is one of the many projects we've been able to fund on UL's campus because of the fee we passed eight years ago."

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