News

Pyrtle: RCC a Shining Star

Oct 4, 2024

With Rockingham Community College’s advanced manufacturing programs now located in the new Center for Workforce Development, several hundred people from across the county and beyond celebrated its grand opening on Sept. 26.

The 42,000-square-foot facility houses the Computer-Integrated Machining, Mechatronics Engineering, and Electrical Systems Technologies program, along with offices and a large community meeting room.

The advanced manufacturing programs had been housed in Industrial Technologies I, an original building on campus completed in 1966.

“The facility had outlived its day. We needed a major investment to address the issue,” RCC President Dr. Mark Kinlaw said. “So, the new facility that you see today is a $26 million investment.”

He recognized the county’s Board of Commissioners who served around 2017, “who recognized their responsibility by general statute to fund Rockingham Community College’s capital needs and endorse a referendum to increase the local sales tax by a quarter cent.”

A committee was formed to publicize the referendum, which passed by 55% in May 2018.

Then, Charlotte-based ADW Architects and Greensboro-based Bar Construction came on board.

“We wanted a building that fit in with the College’s existing structures, but also be open and modern, reflecting the clean environment of today’s workplaces,” Kinlaw said.

The College worked with the county’s finance office to obtain a 15-year loan through the Local Government Commission.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held in May 2022, and construction began.

The College received a number of gifts and grants for the project. U.S. Rep. Kathy Manning secured a $1 million grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture for equipment. The Gene Haas Foundation awarded the College $750,000 for advanced machining equipment.

Other gifts came from the RCC Foundation, the Rakestraw family, the Charles Cannon Foundation, Susan Thompson, Molson Coors, Purina, Mr. and Mrs. Butch Trent, Elizabeth and Joe Maddrey, the Grayson Whitt family, the Duke Energy Foundation, and First Citizens Bank. Gifts were also made in memory of student Trevor Wall and Brenda Pryor Atkins, a former RCC Foundation board member.

RCC Board of Trustees Chair Randy Judkins thanked state and local officials, faculty, staff, and the RCC Foundation board.

“The cutting-edge labs and the modern classrooms will ensure that our students have what they need to succeed anywhere they go. Today, we are taking our mission to the to the next level,” she said. “Most importantly, I want to recognize our students, both current and future that walk through these doors, you’re the reason we’re here. You’re the reason that we’ve done all we’ve done today. Your aspirations, your hard work, and your determination make us want to keep pushing forward.”

The new building will serve to train Rockingham County citizens “to enter the workforce and improve the quality of life for their families,” said Amy Brown, president of the RCC Foundation Board of Directors. “In addition, the facility will provide training to support the needs of industry in our county and the region.”

County Commissioner Chair Charlie Hall said he grew up on the campus, with his dad teaching in the 1960s and 1970s.

“He was proud to see his students who came through remain in this community and become leaders to help this community prosper. He would be very pleased,” he said. “This is more than just a pretty building. It’s an investment in our future, a place where people of all ages can come and learn the skills to help turn their dreams into reality. Your commissioners are proud to have been part of this dream.”

County Manager Lance Metzler called the new building a beacon of opportunity, innovation and growth for the community.

“This center will be a catalyst of economic growth, providing our students with the tools they need to secure meaningful employment, and our businesses with a skilled workforce ready to tackle the challenges of tomorrow,” he said. “It will foster innovation, collaboration, and long-time learning, ensuring that our community remains resilient and competitive in an ever-changing world. Together, we have built something truly remarkable and together we’ll continue to build a brighter future in Rockingham County.”

Leigh Cockram said that since she became director of Economic Development for Rockingham County in 2019, RCC’s Center for Workforce Development has been a part of every announcement she has made. She said when she was in early talks with Pella Windows, she was able to provide a rendering of the facility as evidence of being able to provide a skilled workforce – and to let them know that it was funded by the county’s residents.

“That doesn’t happen in rural places in America. So, thank you to Rockingham County citizens, to the leadership of Rockingham County in the past and the present leaders for doing that because since then we have been able to recruit over a billion dollars’ worth of investment and 1,500 jobs,” she said. “This building and what you’ve done here has played a major role in that, and will continue to play a major role in our ability to recruit businesses in the future.”

N.C. Sen. Phil Berger said sales tax referendums have not passed in many other communities.

“I believe the reason it didn’t fail is because the people of the county trusted the Commissioners when they said this is what the money is going to be used for,” he said.

Berger said the state is experiencing unprecedented growth right now, and is attracting industries from other parts of the nation and world.

“Rockingham County deserves to have an opportunity to participate in that growth and development. This facility will help Rockingham County to not only participate, but to excel in the competition for new jobs,” he said.

Don Powell gave credit to former Eden Economic Development Director Mike Dougherty for the vision of the project, which was based on economic conditions, demographics, and the median income for local families. 

Powell became co-chair of a committee composed of business, political, and governmental leaders that urged citizens to approve the quarter-cent sales tax increase. Members included Dougherty, Keith Duncan, Tom Schoolfield, Jeff Garstka, Roxanne Griffin, Missy Matthews, Diane Parnell, Alan Purgason, Bonnie Purgason, Ron Tuck, Jamie Rorrer, and ex-officio Mark Kinlaw.

N.C. Rep. Reece Pyrtle recalled being in his office as Eden Police Chief, when Dougherty stopped in and revealed his vision about a sales tax to support workforce development. The committee “probably hit every civic group that would listen to them, and went over and over, took charts, and passed out brochures,” he said.

“Along the way, as always with projects in this county, we had our share of naysayers, those who see the boogieman behind every truth. To those folks, let me say: I told you so, here we are,” Powell said. “And to our supporters, thank you for trusting us and doing what we needed to do in this county to make this dream come true.”

He said the building represents a career path for graduating high school seniors that allows them to be trained in a skill or trade and enter the workforce without a burden of debt from four years of university tuition.

“It will allow them to take a job in our local economy that will give them the means to make a very livable wage for themselves and their future families,” Powell said. “This building also contains the opportunity for men and women who find themselves in lower-paying jobs to come here and retool themselves, and they too can get into the workforce in a better job, therefore supporting their family on a different level.”

He said this project “is one of the very best decisions made in this county, for our citizens and for our corporate partners.”

Bill Cranford, regional business manager for the Phillips Corporation, pointed out the Haas machining equipment in the Center for Workforce Development.

Cranford said the Phillips Corporation will not only service the Haas equipment, but will “benefit from students who come through this program who go to work in shops that we support directly.” Phillips Corporation hires graduates of these types of programs to be service technicians, process improvement engineers, sales people, and business managers. 

John Loyack, vice president of Economic Development with the N.C. Community College System, said industries looking for a new location are sometimes promised that something will be built to accommodate their needs – but it takes 5-10 years, a lot of money, and a leap of faith.

“But you have done something special here. This building is not promised, it exists. It will be seen every day and I just want to congratulate everyone in Rockingham County for taking such a critical step.”

Kelley Woodley, area director for USDA Rural Development said the $1 million from a USDA Community Facilities grant assisted RCC in purchasing up-to-date equipment on which trade teachers can train students.

Industrial Technologies II

A ribbon cutting was also held on Sept. 26 for RCC’s Industrial Technologies II Building, which underwent an extensive renovation for the Welding program.

In the summer of 2022, RCC brought in Boomerang Design, an architecture firm in Raleigh, to design the building, along with contractor HM Kern of Greensboro. Renovations began in January 2023.

A Golden LEAF Foundation $200,000 grant was used to purchase welding equipment.

Scott Hamilton, president of the Golden LEAF Foundation, thanked the General Assembly for its trust, and for providing Golden LEAF with funding for projects like RCC’s renovation to expand the Welding program.

Hamilton said the Welding program expansion increased the number of students that can be in the program, provides more opportunities for continuing education programs, and helps meet the needs of industries that need to hire a skilled and talented workforce.

Overall Investment

Kinlaw said he is amazed to look back at the $4.5 million investment for the simulated hospital renovation in 2016, the $26 million investment in the Center for Workforce Development, and the $5.78 million investment in the Industrial Technologies II building.

“Almost all of that was locally raised money. And that’s just incredible to me in a rural county in North Carolina, but it speaks highly of what this county and its citizens are about. I can’t thank you enough for believing in our college, believing in what we need to do collectively to present opportunities for students and serve our business and industry partners,” he said.

Judkins said, “It is not just an expansion of our campus, it is also an investment in our county. These are state-of-the-art buildings. They represent growth, empowerment and programs that will meet the real needs of our residents and business industries in this county.”

And Pyrtle is proud to spread the word about RCC.

“When I travel the state and I meet with my colleagues, one of the things that I always find time to talk about is the shining star right here in Wentworth, North Carolina, and what the citizens of Rockingham County did to make this star shine just a little bit brighter,” he said.

For additional photos from grand opening day, please visit RCC’s Facebook page at https://tinyurl.com/CWDribboncut

~Story and photos by Gerri Hunt, RCC Director of Public Information