WCC Demopolis tech center construction under way
Demolition is almost complete at what will be the Technology Center of Wallace Community College’s Demopolis campus, and the center should welcome students in the summer or fall of 2023.
Blaine Hathcock, Demopolis campus director for WCC, told the Demopolis Rotary Club Wednesday that the college “has made a tremendous investment in Demopolis.” Dr. James Mitchell, president of the college headquartered in Selma, is a “tremendous advocate” of the school and the new tech center, he said..
Construction costs for the facility are estimated at $3.9 million. That figure doesn’t include the purchase price of the former National Guard Armory, furniture and equipment. The final tally will be closer to $5 million.
Hathcock said the new tech center “will go a long way into growing our campus and growing our community.”
The building now looks like the former armory it was. The challenge, he said, is to make it look like a school. By the time construction is finished, the exterior will be totally transformed.
The building has 22,000 square feet of space that will be divided into offices, classrooms, a full computer lab and areas for training in welding, industrial maintenance and HVAC instruction. A 2,000-square-foot community room will be available for meetings, professional development, conferences and training. It also will house the base for students in the truck driving school earning their CDL.
Much of the instruction in those fields now is being conducted at the former New Era building. Hathcock said Dr. Mitchell insists the center will have all new equipment for its students. The tech center will enable the college to tailor-make courses to provide short-term instruction at the request of area industries.
The idea of purchasing the building for a tech center began about three years ago, prior to Hathcock becoming campus director. Several plans were considered before the college’s board gave approval for the final plans in January. Demolition began in late March.
On the academic front, WCC Demopolis offers a way for students in the area to begin their higher education career without having to travel a long distance or pay higher tuition costs.
“Poverty is something that obviously in a school system we know affects education, but we know that education can also impact poverty in a positive way,” he said. Being able to offer quality education locally is a boon to the area.
Students attending WCC Demopolis now can earn 49 percent of the needed credits to receive an associate degree, but that could change next year. Hathcock said the campus has submitted an application to become accredited through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. SACS is expected to make a site visit in the fall and, if WCC Demopolis is approved, it can expand to offer associate degrees.
“This is a really, really big deal,” he said, and would be a game-changer for the Demopolis area. “This has never been done here before.”
WCC Demopolis boasted 365 students taking at least one course in the spring semester this year, Hathcock said. He is looking to enroll 500 in the near future. The campus now draws students from Marengo and its eight contiguous counties who take advantage of dual enrollment, evening classes and the opportunity to work toward a degree more economically than traveling away from the area.