Community College enrollment triples
after new center opens in Buena Vista
A greenhouse and state-of-the-art restaurant kitchen are among the facilities now available to students at the new Rockbridge Regional Center of Dabney S. Lancaster Community College.
The center, at 35 Vista Links Drive in Buena Vista, is expected to nurture existing programs and attract more students to the two-year college. Already this fall, student enrollment has tripled.
For 10 years, the college operated out of three buildings in succession, all of which eventually proved far too small. The most recent location was the Magnolia Square building in Lexington, where students squeezed into 5,000 square feet of classrooms and office space. The new center, which had a grand opening celebration earlier this month, has three times the space.
Richard Teaff, president of the college, realized the college was quickly outgrowing the Magnolia Square location, and he began to make plans before the five-year lease of the Magnolia center expired.
Teaff met with his colleagues as well as the Rockbridge County, Lexington, and Buena Vista governments to assess the college’s needs.
“We felt that we needed a larger campus, a larger presence,” Teaff said. “We talked about what the costs would be and what the benefits would be. Within a week or two, all three governments came back and said they supported the idea.”
Vice President Gary Keener said that this fourth location has been a great move. Although the college grew out of its previous centers quickly, Keener believes that there will be ample space at the new location for a long time.
“The space is designed for our needs,” Keener said. “It’s head over heels above what we’ve had in the past as far as the way it’s laid out, the way it’s set up, and space.”
The new facility in Buena Vista has a variety of classrooms, including a compressed video classroom where students can watch the instructors and students from the main Clifton Forge campus, about 30 miles away. That allows classes to be offered simultaneously on both campuses, eliminating the need to drive between the two.
In addition, there are new computer labs, “smart” classrooms featuring multimedia technology, and science labs. The science labs will be used for biology and nursing courses in its Licensed Practical Nurse and Registered Nurse programs.
Perhaps the largest and most exciting part of the new center is the kitchen and accompanying culinary program, Teaff said.
The kitchen includes more than $100,000 worth of donated equipment.
Phil McManus, head of the culinary arts program, started working for the program four years ago with one small kitchen and about four students. Today, McManus expects to have classes of 15 to 20 students. Within three years, he hopes to have 80 to 90 students in the culinary program.
“The new lab has allowed us to expand the operations part of our program. There is the most updated equipment they can use,” McManus said.
McManus explained the reasoning behind the generous donations from equipment manufacturers.
“It’s a win-win situation,” McManus said. “It gives the manufacturers a chance to sell [the equipment] once the students make it to the private sector; they can sell [the equipment] it to the companies [the former students] are working for.”
One other new addition to the facility is a greenhouse that will be used for botany classes and be integrated into the cooking curriculum. McManus said he hopes to offer a class on herb gardening and wild herbs once the greenhouse is up and running.
With the new center, class enrollment has almost tripled, Teaff said.
Keener and Teaff agreed that the Rockbridge Regional Center will promote even more growth of the college.
“We’re proud of it, we’re excited about it, and it’s a great asset to the college and to the community,” Keener said.
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(NAME HERE / Rockbridge Report)
Dabney S. Lancasater Community College Rockbridge Regional Center Web site
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