The Washington County Regional Center opens fall of 2014
Kirkwood Community College will host a groundbreaking ceremony for its nearly $9 million Washington County Regional Center at 4 p.m., Monday, May 13. The state-of-the-art new facility will be built northwest of Washington, along Lexington Boulevard, on an eight-acre plot donated by Jim and Margaret Dunn and family, also of Washington.
“We are very excited to announce the next step toward our new regional center’s completion,” said Kirkwood’s President Mick Starcevich. “The generous land donation from the Dunn family, along with the bond issue dollars local taxpayers granted us in 2011, will bring much-needed advanced technology training to Washington County.”
When complete, the nearly 39,000-sq. ft. center will house innovative programming provided through a partnership with several local high schools. The unique cooperation puts rural students in hands-on technical programs and college-level arts and sciences courses. “High school students get hands-on career experience and at the same time earn valuable college credit at no cost to their families,” said Tera Pickens, director of the Washington County Regional Center. “This means an overall savings of hundreds of thousands of college tuition dollars annually.” Traditional college courses and continuing education programming and training Kirkwood has always brought to the community will be taught at the new center, as well.
Construction will begin this summer, with doors set to open in the fall of 2014.