Download PDF of series here: https://www.publicedworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/HEW-cc-series.pdf
Community Colleges: The Swiss Army knives of higher ed
RALEIGH (February 9, 2022) – They’re the Swiss Army knives of higher education. That’s because North Carolina’s community colleges do so many different things, whether it’s helping a student complete a GED, learn a skilled trade, train for a specific job with a local employer, earn an associate degree in a high-demand field, or transfer… READ MORE
Forsyth Tech Aviation: ‘A wonderful opportunity’
WINSTON-SALEM (February 4, 2022) – There’s a whole lot of aviation happening at Piedmont Triad International Airport – and with it a whole lot of really good jobs. With HondaJet’s manufacturing facility,1 FedEx Express’s Mid-Atlantic hub,2 and now Boom SuperSonic’s plan to bring more than 1,700 jobs and a $500 million investment to PTI,3 the… READ MORE
Community College: Seamless pathway to a four-year degree
RALEIGH (February 16, 2022) – As tuition at four-year universities climbed over the past decade,1 increasing numbers of students chose to start their college careers at one of North Carolina’s 58 community colleges. “We provide two-year associate’s degrees, but also a seamless transition for those individuals that want to pursue a four-year degree,” Thomas Stith… READ MORE
A new, more affordable way to become a teacher
GREENVILLE (February 16, 2022) – In a state with a growing population but a shortage of teachers, North Carolina’s state colleges and universities offer a new way to make college both more accessible and more affordable for would-be teachers. NC Community College System President Thomas Stith III notes in the accompanying video that the Community… READ MORE
Pitt VISIONS: ‘If we just helped four or five students…’
GREENVILLE (February 23, 2022) – At the outset in 2004, Eddie Smith thought his family’s support might help four or five students at Pitt Community College. It’s since helped more than 1,200. The family foundation run by Smith, the owner and CEO of Grady-White Boats in Greenville, has poured more than $4 million into VISIONS,… READ MORE
Stith: Wraparound support for students
RALEIGH (February 23, 2022) – North Carolina’s community colleges don’t help students just in the classroom. They also provide students with the support they need to make college work. The colleges know many of their students have children or a full-time job to perform at the same time they try to earn a degree or… READ MORE
Forsyth Tech Cares: Help when life happens
WINSTON-SALEM (March 3, 2022) – Life just happens to many community college students. Many have jobs. Some have children. Some have unreliable cars. Some don’t have a computer. Some need to put down security deposits. Some can’t afford groceries. Forsyth Tech Cares is an effort Forsyth Technical Community College launched in the early days of… READ MORE
‘Free’ community college? ‘That’s crazy’
WALNUT COVE (March 9, 2022) – ‘Free’ is a loaded term – somebody has to pay. But education leaders say free community-college tuition could help lift more North Carolina students out of poverty. “Community college tuition in North Carolina is an extremely good deal,” Forsyth Technical Community College President Janet Spriggs says in the accompanying… READ MORE
Background: NC and ‘free’ community college
RALEIGH (March 9, 2022) – The Republicans in Tennessee get it. In 2014, the state legislature and then-Gov. Bill Haslam approved Tennessee Promise, which let the state’s recent high-school graduates attend community college free of tuition and fees. In its first year, the program boosted the college-going rate of Tennessee high-school graduates by 6 percentage… READ MORE
Forsyth Tech: What is it that Stokes County needs?
WALNUT COVE (March 17, 2022) – When Forsyth Technical Community College set out to start a campus in Stokes County, college officials didn’t assume – they asked. “We try to meet the individual needs of the counties that we serve,” Forsyth Tech President Janet Spriggs says in the accompanying video, explaining that the college serves… READ MORE
‘Customized training just for them’
WINSTON-SALEM (March 17, 2022) – One of the reasons they’re called community colleges is they provide precisely the training that local employers – and employees – need. “At Forsyth Technical Community College, that means we work with employers like Reynolds American,” President Janet Spriggs says in the accompanying video. “We provide for them education –… READ MORE
Community college: Critical path to NC State
RALEIGH (March 23, 2022) – NC State University Chancellor Randy Woodson knows the importance of community colleges – the state’s 58 colleges send NC State about 1,000 students a year. “Community colleges across the state have become a critical pathway to NC State, and I know that’s true for many other universities in the UNC… READ MORE
Goodnight Transfer Scholars: ‘They’re phenomenal’
RALEIGH (March 23, 2022) – Jim and Ann Goodnight understand the value of community-college students who transfer to universities. The Goodnight Scholars Program that they launched in 2008 is NC State University’s largest scholarship program; it is expected to grow to 350 or more students. In 2017, the program began gradually increasing the number of… READ MORE
Stith: Invest in our faculty and staff
RALEIGH (March 30, 2022) – It’s shameful. North Carolina’s community colleges are a linchpin of economic development and social mobility in our state. Yet what we pay instructors at those colleges is shameful. From a national perspective, North Carolina’s community college instructors rank even lower than our K-12 public school teachers. “The North Carolina Community… READ MORE
MerleFest 101: Music. Moments. Memories.
WILKESBORO (April 14, 2022) – It all started with the campus gardens. And oh, how it’s blossomed. What started in 1988 as a one-time fundraiser for campus landscaping at Wilkes Community College has grown into an annual, four-day event with 12 stages that feature bluegrass, country, gospel, zydeco, fusion music and everything in between, fueling… READ MORE
MerleFest: $12 million shot in the arm for NW NC
WILKESBORO (April 14, 2022) – Community colleges benefit their communities in all sorts of ways. But for the past 34 years, MerleFest has benefited Wilkes County and surrounding communities in a way that’s unique to the people and music of the North Carolina foothills. “MerleFest is a great example of what the community colleges in… READ MORE
NC Community Colleges: $19B Impact, 300K Jobs
RALEIGH (April 20, 2022) – A recent economic-impact study shows that not only are North Carolina’s community colleges important to education in our state – they’re important to our economy. “Not only do we fuel the job engine – we literally fuel the state’s economy,” Thomas Stith, President of the NC Community College System, says… READ MORE
VINFAST: ‘North Carolina’s future is bright’
RALEIGH (April 20, 2022) – North Carolina has longed for an auto plant for decades. Now, with Vietnamese electric automaker VinFast’s announced investment of more than $4 billion in a plant in Chatham County,1 coupled with Toyota’s announcement in December of a $1.3 billion battery plant in Randolph County,2 North Carolina is on a battery-powered… READ MORE
Davidson-Davie: Students improve their lives
THOMASVILLE (April 27, 2022) – Communities need to stick together. And Davidson-Davie Community College serves as the glue for two counties just south of Winston-Salem. In the accompanying video, Davidson-Davie President Darrin Hartness describes how the college serves as an integral part of community. “We now serve over 12,000 students each year with over 40… READ MORE
DDCC Davie Campus: ‘Tremendous impact on the workforce’
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… READ MORE
Davidson-Davie basketball: ‘Let’s go Storm!’
THOMASVILLE (April 22, 2022) – You’ve got your Tar Heels. You’ve got your Wolfpack. You’ve got your Blue Devils. Better add the Storm. We don’t often hear much about athletics at community colleges. But in a streak that local papers call “staggering,” Davidson-Davie Community College’s men’s basketball team has reached the National Junior College Athletic… READ MORE
‘Always a demand for truck drivers’
MOCKSVILLE (June 1, 2022) — With the supply-chain delays we face these days, there’s never been a more important time to train truck drivers. “Even your automobile came to the dealership on a truck. Everything you own at some point was on a truck,” Jeff Ferguson, Director of the Truck Driver Training Program at Davidson-Davie… READ MORE
Davidson-Davie and a different furniture industry
THOMASVILLE (June 1, 2022) – With storied names like Lexington and Thomasville in its back yard, you’d expect Davidson-Davie Community College to have a long history with the furniture industry. And it does. But that relationship has “morphed” over the years, Dr. Darrin Hartness, President of Davidson-Davie, says in the accompanying video. The college supplies… READ MORE
Wilkes: ‘Lifting a generation out of poverty’
WILKESBORO (June 15, 2022) – Something remarkable is happening in Wilkes County. First, with a goal to lift a generation out of poverty, Wilkes Community College has dramatically improved completion rates for its students over the past four years. Second, an ardent new initiative will attempt to connect Wilkes graduates with high-paying jobs in the… READ MORE
NC Tech Paths: Live. Train. Remain.
WILKESBORO (June 15, 2022) – The nonprofit NC Tech Paths has a three-word slogan: “Live. Train. Remain.” “We’re not going to reach our goals for this community if we continue to educate our best and brightest and export a high number of them to other communities around the state and around the country,” says Craig… READ MORE
The Groundwork: A plan and philanthropic partners
WILKESBORO (June 15, 2022) – Wilkes Community College’s effort to connect graduates with the tech economy didn’t happen out of the blue – it took a plan. And it took generosity. “Wilkes is suffering from a lot of the same challenges that many rural communities are across the nation.” Lee Herring, President of the Leonard… READ MORE
Davidson-Davie: Health-care support jobs
MOCKSVILLE (June 22, 2022) – The Davie campus of Davidson-Davie Community College sits not far from major health-care providers in the Piedmont Triad and Charlotte: Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, Novant, you name it. “They’re excellent partners with our college, and there’s a lot of workforce in this region related to health care,” Davidson-Davie President… READ MORE
Central Sterile Processing: Who cleans those instruments?
MOCKSVILLE (June 22, 2022) – We don’t usually think about who prepares the instruments a surgeon uses – but they’re very important people. And situated as it is between major health providers in North Carolina, Davidson-Davie Community offers a nine-month program in Central Sterile Processing that’s designed to meet considerable demand for those technicians. “Students… READ MORE
Central Piedmont: Bridge to Careers
CHARLOTTE (June 30, 2022) – The Bank of America Bridge to Careers program at Central Piedmont Community College is an effort to connect Black and Hispanic/Latino students with high-demand careers that pay family-sustaining wages. Bridge to Careers is part of a $25 million initiative by Bank of America in collaboration with two dozen community colleges… READ MORE
Bridge to Careers: ‘Anything that they need’
CHARLOTTE (June 30, 2022) – The Bridge to Careers program at Central Piedmont Community College provides Black and Hispanic/Latino students tuition, fees, books and materials. But it provides a lot more, says Central Piedmont President Kandi Deitemeyer. “What I love about this program just beyond the financial capacity … is the wraparound services that we… READ MORE
Central Piedmont: So many health fields
CHARLOTTE (June 30, 2022) – Central Piedmont Community College offers training in more than 20 health-care fields. There’s Nursing, of course, and nurses are in great demand. But Karen Summers, Dean of Health Sciences at Central Piedmont, says many students simply aren’t aware of all the other opportunities in health care. “If they’ve never really… READ MORE
Community Colleges: Vital work for North Carolinians
RALEIGH (July 13, 2022) – If you didn’t already, we hope our series on North Carolina’s community colleges helped you appreciate the many services these 58 colleges provide their communities – the Swiss Army knives of higher education, we called them. TRAINING FOR NEWCOMERS As new employers like Toyota, VinFast and Boom Supersonic make huge… READ MORE