Snead State plans to build 45,000-square-foot Career and Technical Training Center
Snead State Community College officially announced on Friday that a new 45,000-square-foot facility will soon be built on the campus of Marshall Technical School.
"In the last 125 years, I don't think that there has ever been an announcement that has had this much of an impact on the community, the region and the students as the one we have made today," Snead State President Dr. Joe Whitmore said.
The college held a joint press conference that announced the Career and Technical Training Center, which he said will allow them to "facilitate business and industry’s training needs."
"Because of this announcement, we will be able to continue to sharpen our students to make sure they are ready for employment," he said, "We will also be able to help develop a meaningful, productive workforce that helps contribute to our business partners and their success."
The need for a facility that accommodated career tech careers was one of those identified by local communities through the Alabama Community College System ASPIRE 2030 initiative, a movement that started in May 2020 to help community colleges across the state to determine community needs and increase local community engagement.
"While listening to the focus as to what ASPIRE was all about, I began to realize what a great opportunity it was and for Snead State to show what we were capable of," Whitmore reflected, "We wanted to connect with our partners and determine exactly where we needed to go and what we needed to do and everyone we talked to said the same thing: we needed to provide more technical training opportunities for Marshall County."
Through the new center, the college will be able to house training facility for a variety of technical careers, such as welding, industrial systems electronics, and machine tool technology, things Whitmore says will be the biggest needs in Marshall County over the next 10 years.
"The greatest thing about this facility and its floor plan is that it will be flexible," Whitmore added, "If the needs of the industry changes within the next five or 10 years, we can easily rearrange the facility and retrofit the floor plan to meet those needs."
The facility also will have space for short-term workforce training and meeting rooms for the college's corporate partners, along with classroom space and lab space for things such as welding simulators.
"We're already looking into ways to expand it because we are looking to fill this up very quickly," he added, "We want to have the ability to expand the footprint if need be."
The center's location is a more central location to Marshall County, next to Marshall Technical School, which Whitmore said allows for businesses in the county to have better access to this and will be "located closer to the people we are going to be serving."
"If you look at a map and point to the most center part of Marshall County, you will be pointing very close to the Marshall Technical School," he said, "We've always enjoyed a strong working relationship with them and this will only help benefit our dual enrollment students and is a place that made sense to us."
"We have wanted this day for a long time because we are passionate about our students being able to go full circle and have a direct connection to the workforce," added Marshall County Schools Superintendent Dr. Cindy Wigley, who had joined Whitmore for the announcement, "We could not be more excited about this project."
Whitmore was also joined in the announcement by Gov. Kay Ivey, Alabama Senator Clay Scofield and Alabama Community College Chancellor Jimmy Baker.
"One of my biggest priorities is that every Alabamian who wants a job has one," Ivey said, "The economy is as strong as our workers and its apparent that we develop our workers to help boost the companies that call Alabama home."
"We are going to move forward and beyond within the Alabama community college system. We already are," Baker added, "The community has responded and is excited to the movement and improvements Snead is having. We have a lot to do and I'm excited to see the journey in finding a way to help the people in the community that needs it."
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Snead State announces new career tech center
