Calhoun begins fall semester with new lab, dental hygienist program

Aug. 18—Calhoun Community College's dental hygienist program and $1 million lab open today with the start of the 2021 fall semester after more than three years of preparation.

Calhoun becomes the second Alabama college to offer a program that school officials say is in high demand. The dental hygienist program at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville is more than three decades old.

This is one of two new programs Calhoun is offering this fall, and the only new two-year program that leads to an associate's degree.

A new certified pre-apprentice pipefitter training program begins classes Sept. 10. They will be held Fridays from 5 to 9 p.m., and Saturdays from 8 a.m. until noon, through Dec. 18.

Calhoun spokesman Wes Torain said the college expects to surpass last year's enrollment of 8,300. Enrollment annually surpassed 10,000 in past years but the numbers for the 2020-21 school year were hampered by the coronavirus pandemic.

Torain said the college is offering traditional in-person classes, online classes and hybrid courses with a mix of traditional and online classes.

"It's hard to know what our enrollment will be," Torain said. "We are seeing more register for in-person classes than we did last year."

Torain said masks are "strongly encouraged" because of the resurgence of COVID-19 and the delta variant but they remain optional on most of the the campus. However, masks will be required in some smaller classrooms because of the difficulty in providing adequate social distancing.

"Our cleaning crews will be cleaning and disinfecting the classroom spaces regularly," Torain said.

The college is offering more than $250,000 in new scholarships from the federal CARES (Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security) Act. Students pursuing degrees and certificates in programs designed for direct entry into the workforce could receive scholarship awards ranging from $2,000 to $4,940 per student.

Calhoun Health and Sciences Dean Brett McGill said the site visit for accreditation of the dental hygienist program was in April. The college enrolled students in anticipation that it might get approval for the new program while creating an alternative schedule in case approval didn't come in time for today's classes.

The approval came just in time. The new dental hygienist program received its national accreditation on Friday, five days before the start of the new semester.

The college hired Sunnie McWhorter as program director three years ago even though there wasn't a program yet. She had the task of not only establishing the program but also helping design the new lab.

Calhoun used a combination of the college's capital construction funding and money from the federal Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act to build the lab, he said.

The new dental hygienist lab on the second floor of the Health Sciences Building features 10 new operatory areas in addition to the four existing areas used in the existing dental assistant program. An operatory area features a dental chair and dental light similar to those found in dental offices, McWhorter said.

"We've very excited because this has been a long-time coming," McWhorter said.

McGill said more than 50 people applied for the initial class but it has a limit of 14 students.

Most of the students were willing to wait for the new program to begin, even if it had not received accreditation in time for fall semester, and began taking core classes like math and English in anticipation of the dental hygienist program. Those who were already taking Calhoun classes received additional points toward selection into the new program, McGill said.

McWhorter said it helped in recruiting for the class when students found out they will no longer have to travel to Hanceville.

"A lot of the students really liked that it's closer to home," she said.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for dental hygienists is $77,000, and hiring is projected to increase by more than the average occupation.

"Dental hygienists are in high demand, especially with the pandemic and because there have been a lot of retirements," McGill said.

Dental Assisting has been a successful program at Calhoun for years. The difference is a dental assistant works closely with the dentist while the dental hygienist is the person "cleaning your teeth on the six-month cleaning," McGill said.

"Becoming a dental hygienist requires more education so she makes more," McGill said. "It's kind of like the separation between an LPN and an RN."

McGill said a dental hygienist, after a five-semester course, starts out at between $36,000 and $46,000 a year. The pay level often depends on the size of the dental practice.

— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432. Twitter @DD_BayneHughes.