By BRUCE MILLS
bruce@theitem.com
A vision and “dream” came to reality on Tuesday as Central Carolina Technical College unveiled its new Academic Student Services Building on its main campus on Guignard Drive in Sumter.
With the opening of the new 58,000-square-foot, three-story facility last week, CCTC leaders hosted a ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony for elected officials, the college’s area commission and foundation members, workforce development partners, donors, the project’s architect/construction team and many others.
The new building features two wings – one for academics, the other for student services – that are joined by a hallway corridor and helps to modernize the main campus, according to Central Carolina Interim President Jason Tisdel.
The student services wing reorganizes and clusters many of the college’s services in that focus area together, providing easy access to departments including admissions, dual enrollment, advising, financial aid, finance and career services. That wing also includes a multipurpose student center and adjoining industrial kitchen to accommodate a variety of student life and campus events and functions.
The academic wing on the other side provides additional classroom and lab space for general education and biology and anatomy classes and consolidates some faculty and instructional space into a single location.
The Academic Student Services Building is now the largest single facility on the main campus, and Tisdel said about two years ago when construction began it was “a dream to have a new facility on the main campus.”
CCTC Executive Director of Marketing and Communications Nicole Miles said the college’s last new building construction project at the Guignard Drive campus was 33 years ago when the M600 Building was built in 1992. She added some renovations have occurred since that time on site, most notably in 2012 when the former Student Services Building facing Guignard was renovated. Additionally, Central Carolina has conducted multimillion-dollar new building projects off site.
Both McLeod Health Senior Vice President Octavia Williams-Blake and CCTC Area Commission Chairman Paul Napper called the new facility a “milestone” moment for the college, which focuses on technical education and workforce readiness for business and industry in the four-county service area of Sumter, Clarendon, Lee and Kershaw counties.
In his remarks, Napper thanked community members, the legislative delegation, donors, faculty/staff and the construction team for helping to bring the building’s vision into reality.
“This building and space are bold, student centered, reflects where we are headed and most importantly is designed with our students in mind, offering them support tools and services they need to thrive each and every day,” he said.
A major donor to the college’s foundation, McLeod Health recently provided a $25,000 gift to the project, and the event also included the naming of a health lab in McLeod’s honor.
To fit and accommodate the new building on the campus, the college demolished some older facilities to include the M200 Building and a wing of the M100 Building to make room, Miles said.
The project architect was Quackenbush Architects, and construction was handled by Hood Construction, both based in Columbia. The building actually was completed ahead of schedule, and the new facility was not originally planned to come online until January.
Tuesday’s attendance was about 170, which was mostly faculty and staff, Miles added.
To view the original article on the Sumter Item website, click here.