Wayne Community College breaks ground on new technology building
By Bonnie Edwards
Published in News on October 20, 2005 1:48 PM
Wayne Community College officials broke ground Wednesday morning for the college's last building project funded by money from a 2000 state bond issue for community colleges and universities.
About 70 business and technology students, faculty members and staff attended the ground-breaking behind the Magnolia Building, which will be connected to the Spruce Building by a two-story covered walkway.
Toy trucks waited in front of a mound of dirt for children from the college's childcare center. Seven golden shovels stood ready for the ceremonial tossing of the dirt.
College president Dr. Ed Wilson welcomed the crowd, saying Wayne Community College has vigorously trained and educated the work force over the past few years, especially through the business programs that helped retrain laid off factory workers, most of whom graduated last year.
And now, "we are preparing for the next wave of the future and giving our business and computer programs a state-of-the art home," Wilson said.
The 31,000-square-foot Spruce Building will house the college's computer science and business center, which is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2006. Classes should start in the building the following spring semester.
The building will have eight computer labs and eight classrooms, which should allow the college to free up space in the Wayne Learning Center. All of the computer labs will be in side-by-side buildings, with a few labs remaining on the second floor of the Magnolia Building.
The college received $13 million from the bond issue. About $3.7 million has been used for general repairs, maintenance, technological improvements and covered walkways connecting most of the college's buildings. The first building project in the college's $9 million building plan has been a state-of-the-art childcare center, which was completed in August 2003. The second project recently completed is the college's new Walnut Building, which houses the college's Continuing Education Division, Basic Skills Program and Small Business Center. The Spruce Building will be the third and final building project.