New facility planned for Piedmont Technical’s Saluda satellite campus
Saluda County’s satellite campus of Piedmont Technical College currently enrolls about 500 students each fall, but that number should grow dramatically with the anticipated opening of a new facility in August 2009.
Officials from the college and those from Saluda County and the City of Saluda held a traditional ground-breaking ceremony at the current campus. The new 20,000-square-foot building will be located across the street on Batesburg Highway, just outside of Saluda and about eight miles from Ridge Spring.
The project was funded through a successful bond referendum in Saluda County, a federal Economic Development Administration grant and through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s rural economic development loan and grant program. Aiken Electric Cooperative also played a key role in the project with a $740,000 loan guarantee.
As a USDA borrower, said CEO Gary Stooksbury, Aiken Electric has access to funds. The agency and its trustees agreed to guarantee the funds from USDA as a no-interest loan.
“That was the last piece to bring in the total cost of the project,” Stooksbury said. “It’s nice to be able to assist our communities and bring these dollars to fruition.”
Piedmont Technical College’s main campus is in Greenwood and serves seven counties – Saluda, McCormick, Edgefield, Abbeville, Laurens and Newberry. Dr. Lex Walters, who retired as PTC’s president earlier this year after 39 years in office, said a 1989 survey indicated that the majority of students were from Greenwood.
That prompted the college to establish satellite campuses in each of the other six counties. PTC students from Greenwood actually built temporary housing for the Saluda center in 1997 and moved it to the community, Walters said.
As for the new facility, “If you build it, they will come,” he said. “That happened with Laurens County’s facility and I think we’ll see that here too.”
The guests included U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett, R-S.C., and S.C. Sen. Shane Massey, R-Edgefield. Barrett said he’s proud that his son will attend a technical college this fall.
“These are more than technical colleges,” he said. “They are community colleges that are reaching our children … Piedmont Technical College is our future, and I’m proud to be here and know that a community like Saluda is willing to put its money where its mouth is. This proves that public/private partnerships are wonderful things.”
“Higher education particularly has become something we strive for and has become a necessity in today’s workforce,” he said. “Piedmont Tech has become a leader in providing this education.”
Dr. Ray Brooks, the new Piedmont president, credited retired Saluda High School principal Bill Whitfield for his role in making the project happen.
“Today’s celebration is a collective effort of many people and agencies,” Whitfield said. “So many people worked together for a greater cause, to provide a better-educated workforce for the citizens of Saluda. It’s a great day for Saluda.”
By ROB NOVIT
The Aiken Standard
August 19, 2008