A century ago, no one could have predicted Kemper County Agricultural High School would become East Mississippi Community College. And certainly no one could have imagined a scenario in which the school would spill beyond its humble beginnings in Scooba, enrolling nearly 5,000 students at two campuses and four branches.
But now, as administrators craft the vision that will take EMCC into the next quarter of a century, they’re dreaming large, believing the school is poised to become the brightest star in the state’s community college arena.
That’s the message they have spent all summer hawking to anyone who will listen, especially elected officials in the six-county region EMCC serves. The potential is there, school officials say, they just need the financial backing to make it a reality.
The numbers game
EMCC was officially founded in 1927, riding high on the junior college movement that swept across the nation. In 1968, spurred by local government’s move toward regional partnerships, the Golden Triangle campus was developed.
Whereas Scooba was a full-service residential campus, the Golden Triangle Vocational Technical Training Center was commuter-based, catering to training the workers of tomorrow. Initial course offerings were standard community college fare — welding, practical nursing, drafting, electricity and electronics.
But as Lowndes County’s industrial base grew, the campus shifted from training students for simple, “real world” manufacturing jobs to preparing them for high-tech careers in the global market.
In response to a decrease in state funding in the late 1980s, college officials sought to attract a broader range of students, expanding their offerings to provide a full slate of university parallel courses designed to springboard graduates from the two-year college to four-year universities. They tacked on more small business-related courses, from banking and marketing to cosmetology, healthcare and culinary arts.
The strategy worked. EMCC saw astronomical growth between 1994 and 2000, increasing enrollment by 212 percent. In 2009, the announcement of a districtwide tuition guarantee program — offering four semesters of free tuition to eligible students in Lowndes, Clay, Oktibbeha, Noxubee, Kemper and Lauderdale counties — increased enrollment another 20 percent.
Now, 4,000 commuter students flock to the Golden Triangle campus each semester, far outstripping the 1,000-student Scooba campus. When classes begin Aug. 20, EMCC President Dr. Rick Young believes districtwide the college will top 5,000 in enrollment for the second time in the school’s history.
And those numbers don’t take into account the 9,000 non-credit, workforce development students sent by local industries each year for pre-employment training, job certifications and additional training.
But with growth comes growing pains, and EMCC is beginning to hit a wall in how much more it can expand. The nation’s economic nosedive has had an inverse effect upon colleges as unemployed and underemployed job seekers return to the classroom, hoping to gain skills to survive in a troubled economic climate.
When the economy rebounds, enrollment is expected to surge even higher, said Dr. Paul Miller, vice president and operations director for the Golden Triangle campus. As the student population moves toward critical mass, it’s vital school officials find space to accommodate them.
And so, EMCC’s visionaries return to the drawing board once more, drafting an ambitious 25-year master plan that will create new facilities, new programs and new opportunities.
Building for success
The greatest growth is predicted to occur at the Golden Triangle campus, especially with more international industries on the horizon.
Initially serving only 300 commuter students, the campus met their needs with the 59,700-square-foot Douglas Career-Technical Building. By the mid-1970s, the facility underwent a 30,585-square-foot expansion. In the mid-1980s, it was expanded again by an additional 44,813 square feet.
In 1998, the Center for Manufacturing Technology Excellence was constructed, providing local manufacturers with a place to train employees in new equipment and processes, like the just-in-time production strategy, which seeks to reduce waste through a strict system of inventory control.
When Young took the helm in 2004, he commissioned a long-range facility plan, which he began implementing in 2006.
Last year, EMCC’s football team took to the field in the new Sullivan-Windham Stadium in Scooba, claiming the state championship in the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges. A horse barn was built for the school’s rodeo team. A 4,200-square-foot fellowship hall was added to the Buster and Jeanie Orr Center for Christian Activity.
The most recent addition to the Scooba campus is the 35,000-square-foot Student Union, which includes a full-service cafeteria, convenience store and grill, event space, a bookstore and a lounge. Upcoming projects include cafeteria renovations, a welcome center, a 20-acre lake, a nine-hole golf course and meeting space.
Growth will slow in Scooba, as the Golden Triangle campus takes center stage.
The once-gravel parking lot has been paved, and 200 parking spaces have been added. The Humanities and Fine Art Building opened in December, and an Allied Health Center is slated for a 12-acre plot near the Industrial Park. The Douglas Career-Technical Building and tennis courts will undergo renovations.
Construction on a $15 million Student Union is scheduled to begin next year and be completed by 2015. The two-story, 80,000-square-foot building will include a full-service cafeteria, bookstore, computer lab, meeting and lounge space and 12 classrooms. The cafeteria paves the way for another expansion: Residential dormitories.
If the college obtains the Columbus Country Club, for which it is currently bidding, the hotel and restaurant management training program will move there, along with the golf team and turf management program.
Funding the future
Expansion costs money, and that’s EMCC’s missing link, Young said. The state provides funding based upon enrollment, but the bulk of the financing comes from county millage rates. The minimum state requirement is two mills, capped at six.
The Lowndes County Board of Supervisors funded EMCC at 2.77 mills last year, but this year Young is requesting an additional two mills.
It makes sense for the county to heavily back EMCC, because EMCC’s workforce development program draws industry to the area, thereby increasing the tax base, he said.
“We’re struggling, and it’s amazing we’ve done as well as we have with as little county support as we receive,” he said. “It’s critical the college receives county support, so we can offer what we offer.”
But Board of Supervisors President and District 1 Supervisor Harry Sanders said, while other counties may offer more mills to EMCC, a mill is worth more in Lowndes County, with two mills providing more than $1 million last year and the terms of a 10-year $225,000 commitment expiring only recently.
“EMCC, by far, is the leader for workforce development in the state of Mississippi,” Sanders said Saturday. “We wouldn’t be able to train our workforce for the industry we’ve recruited without them.”
Young credited EMCC with improving lives by giving students the skills to succeed.
“When you look at the community college overall, and what we do, we reach middle America,” he said. “We give the people that make this country strong the wherewithal to be contributors in the workforce and community. The role of a community college in terms of having a strong country goes back to education — it’s so critical. We make a difference in people’s lives every day through our training and what we offer.”
Miller said he believes if EMCC receives the financial support to achieve its master plan, it will eventually compete with “the big boys,” Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and Hinds Community College in Jackson, which serves 32,000 students and is the largest community college in the state.
“We really feel our future is going to be bright here,” Miller said. “We’re poised to continue to grow. As a district, we feel we’re in a great part of the state with the economic development that happens here (in the Golden Triangle) as well as the potential for growth in Kemper County.”
He paused for a moment to reflect on the college’s past and what the future may hold.
“We’re probably the best bang for the buck, but we’re still kind of a secret,” he said.
Now, as EMCC looks toward the next quarter of a century, it’s a secret he and Young plan to spread far and wide.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 30 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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Map of the first phase of East Mississippi Community College's 25-year plan. Photo by: Courtesy image
