MOCKSVILLE (April 27, 2022) – In January 2021, the trustees at Davidson County Community College voted unanimously to add an important word to the college’s name: Davie.

“That new name better reflects the service district that we serve,” Darrin Hartness, President of what’s now called Davidson-Davie Community College, says in the accompanying video.

“Davie Campus is part of workforce development, economic development in the community. It serves a unique need – proud to have 170 students on this campus that are part of an Early College program. A lot of those students are on an associate’s degree pathway to transfer to a university,” Hartness says.

“But we also have some unique health-science programs here – a central sterile processing program, a surgical technology program, and (a) practical-nurse education program that leads to an LPN, and most of those students go on to become nurses.”

The Davie Campus also offers instruction in trades such as truck-driving and welding.

“So you may come to this campus to earn an associate’s degree,” Hartness says. “Or you may come to this campus on a Saturday morning and get re-certified to be a plumbing inspector or an electrical contractor or a construction contractor.”

HARTNESS ALSO HIGHLIGHTS the Ignite Davie College Promise Program, which guarantees that any student who graduates from high school in Davie County is guaranteed tuition, fees and a book stipend to attend Davidson-Davie Community College.

Hartness says foundations and corporate and community leaders came together to agree that it’s simply the right thing to do for Davie County. 

The initiative has raised $2 million so far toward a $3 million goal to support the program. And since the program started, enrollment of local high-school graduates at Davidson-Davie has almost tripled. 

“That’s going to have a tremendous impact on the workforce and the future of this community,” Hartness says.