From beneath a white hard hat, her smile radiated. His was equally expressive.
Dr. Amanda Lee and Dennis Troy, Bladen Community College’s respective president and chairman of the Board of Trustees, were on a tour Tuesday night with other senior members of the administration and fellow trustees. They were moving through the $6.5 million Continuing Education and Workforce Development Building and the nearly $2 million STEM and Advanced Manufacturing Technology Training Facility.
STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
The buildings, we were told, are game changers. And Jay Stanley, the college’s vice president for Finance and Administration, said they are the first new brick and mortar pieces since 2010 for the campus that opened Dec. 16, 1967.
Five — count ’em, five! — buildings have a piece of the nursing program. Either instructional areas or offices for the staff, but something related to the program is spread across that many facilities.
Soon it will be just one. And this for a program that last month celebrated its largest nurses pinning ceremony.
Larger and more affluent college campuses make building changes much more frequently. But for a small rural county, particularly those on the eastern side of Interstate 95, new buildings are rarities.
The college proudly touts itself as student centered and future focused. What will happen in these two facilities beautifully brings that together.
Fast becoming known as the “ConEd” building — for it will be the hub of Continuing Education on campus — the Workforce Development Building’s price tag is affordable because of the 2016 Connect NC Education Bond. The STEM building is possible through a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and financial support from the Golden LEAF Foundation, the County of Bladen and others in the community.
Tuesday’s tour was through areas at various stages of construction. Still a few months away from occupancy, they are a shell of what they will be — full of students and instructors, bright minds gathering knowledge to make a difference here and beyond.
The images were of hanging ductwork, tiers of rows but no seating in a teaching auditorium already labeled the president’s favorite room, and empty manufacturing and industrial labs. Soon there will be main entrances glassed in with sunbeams shining through, faculty offices adorned with selfies and famous quotes, and equipment that teaches one generation how to help the next.
Behind the smiles of Lee and Troy were visions of the future dancing in their heads. Kids at Christmas almost, awaiting the most special of gifts.
What happens inside the buildings, they assure, is the priceless commodity upon which the college is built: education.
This place is an integral part of our community’s fabric.
The buildings are but brick and mortar. Their possibilities for the minds that will populate them are endless.