VGCC Breaks Ground at South Campus For New Classroom Building Addition
State and Granville County officials joined Vance-Granville Community trustees and staff members in groundbreaking ceremonies Oct. 20 for a new 20,000 square-foot addition to the college’s South Campus.
The two-story addition will provide much-needed classroom space for the growing campus on N.C. 56 between Butner and Creedmoor, VGCC officials said.
President Randy Parker told a gathering of about 65 people that the symbolic ceremony marked both a beginning and an end. It was the beginning of the new project on which actual construction will begin soon. It also marked the end of an active construction program in which new classroom buildings will be provided on each of the college’s four campuses from $17.1 million in funds from the Higher Education Facilities bonds approved in 2000, Parker said.
When completed in about 14 months, the South Campus addition will provide five general classrooms and five computer labs, Parker said. The Radiography program, which is taught at South Campus, will get a lab equipped with the equipment needed to teach students how to perform X-ray procedures. The Human Services Technology program at the campus will also move into the addition.
As part of the construction project, areas of the existing building will be renovated. Among the features of the renovation will be an expanded library, which is shared by the college and Granville County. The renovated spaces will also provide a multi-purpose room that can be used by community organizations for meetings, banquets, seminars and workshops.
Clarence Lemons of Oxford, a member of the VGCC Board of Trustees, welcomed attendees of the groundbreaking. He said: “As the southern part of Granville County continues to grow, so do the numbers of local citizens who come here to get the education and training they need to succeed in their career goals. As enrollment at South Campus grows, the need for adequate facilities in which to train these students grows, also. This classroom building will go a long way toward providing those needed classrooms here at this campus.”
Board of Trustees Chair Donald C. Seifert Sr. told the gathering: “I know you will join all of us over the next months as we eagerly watch the building take shape. Upon its completion, it will be a boon to our educational efforts at Vance-Granville.”
Seifert then invited officials to pick up their shovels and move a little dirt. Participating in the groundbreaking were N.C. Representative Jim Crawford of Oxford, former Rep. Stan Fox of Oxford, Granville County Commissioners Ronald Alligood, Hubert L. Gooch Jr. and James W. Lumpkins, Seifert, Lemons and Trustee David Brooks of Oxford, and President Parker.
