Latest News

ENTERPRISE – Thanks to the hard work of a “great team” at Enterprise State Community College and the Alabama Aviation College, enrollment numbers have increased almost five percent since last fall, defying national trends.

“Nationally, the trend right now is enrollments are declining because of a strong economy and people are working,” Associate Dean of Students/Director of Financial Aid Dr. Kevin Ammons said. “Usually with those trends, people don’t go to school, but we’re seeing increases during a strong economy, which is the result of ESCC’s ability to educate and put people into the workforce.”

ESCC and the AAC have collectively seen a 1.5 percent increase in enrollment since Fall 2016, exceeding previous enrollment numbers before the decision to release the Mobile and Albertville AAC campuses in Spring of 2018 and rising from 1758 enrollments in Fall 2016 to 1785 enrollments in Fall 2019.

“Alabama’s community colleges across the state are laser-focused on the student experience and by implementing best practices and programs that benefit the students they serve, Enterprise State is seeing great success across the board,” said Chancellor Jimmy H. Baker. “I’m proud of the faculty, staff, and administration at Enterprise State for their hard work to meet the needs of the communities they serve.”

“We have not only grown above where we were four years ago, but we have grown past our enrollment without Mobile and Albertville campuses,” Ammons said. “Our future’s very bright. Our aviation programs are thriving. Enrollment is increasing because people are able to go to the colleges and are becoming employed.”

President Matt Rodgers attributes this rise in student enrollments to a “great team of people” at both colleges working to provide quality education and training to the local communities.

“We have a great team of people here at ESCC and the AAC,” Rodgers said. “From our recruiters and financial aid advisors to our instructors and administration and everyone in between, this team works every day to be an active part of the local communities by connecting with local school systems and meeting with business and industry leaders while continuing to make changes to our campuses to provide the best educational experiences for our students. Our ultimate goal is to serve and be our communities’ college.  We are working hard to earn their trust and win their respect.  I am proud of our team and appreciative of the students who chose to continue their education at the college.  We will give them our best every day.”

Several buildings on both campuses are the focus of enhancement projects, including Snuggs Hall, Talmadge Hall, Forrester Hall, and Sessions Hall on ESCC’s campus and Higham on the AAC campus.

The library, located in Snuggs Hall, is home to the new Boll Weevil Central, a social area where students can study, get tutoring services and advising. Forrester Hall will be home to a new black box theater and more classrooms for the college’s Fine Arts department, one department that has seen significant growth in the past year.

“We have grown from two choirs to three choirs,” Fine Arts Department Chair Ken Thomas said. “We have six music appreciation courses; five are filled.

“With the visual arts, all of our art appreciation courses are filled to capacity. We’re experiencing a tremendous amount of growth right now, and we’re really excited about the future of the fine arts division here at ESCC.”

Thomas said the renovations to Forrester Hall, the “quality of instruction” and opportunities, such as performance opportunities at Carnegie Hall, for students have helped the program grow.

“Students know they will get a good education here and many opportunities in the fine arts,” he said. “We’re really excited about what’s going on.”

On the AAC campus, more programs, such as the CDL program introduced in Fall 2018 and the new mechatronics program that opened this fall semester, offers more opportunities to students to be trained to join the workforce. Additionally, current programs are seeing new instructional features, such as a new turbine engine model for use in the college’s Aviation Maintenance Technician Program.

Recruitment efforts have increased in the past year, with ESCC and AAC recruiters and career coaches Adonis Bozeman, Emily Harrelson and Jenna Strickland meeting with guidance counselors, office staff and students around the Wiregrass, often with a snack in hand. ESCC faculty and staff have also traveled around the Wiregrass to support local high school football teams and promote the college. Even ESCC’s own Bo Weevil has become a familiar face at local events such as ribbons cutting and presentations.

Implementing new programs, such as Mechatronics, CDL, Paramedic, Advanced Composites, Information Security and Assurance, and Medical Assisting Technology have opened more opportunities for the ESCC and AAC service areas. ESCC has grown dual enrollment sites spanning from Covington County to Houston County to allow more high schools students the ability to access these new workforce programs.

ESCC has also been a host to acting workshops by local theater company, SEACT, and held its own STEM-focused workshop for local, teenage girls called “Girls Can Code.” Sports camps and ESCC’s annual Camp Weevil have also brought more community members to the campus in recent months.

These efforts by the ESCC and the AAC team have helped the college surpass previous enrollment numbers, and Ammons said both colleges hope to see continued growth.

“We want to keep raising the bar,” he said. “We’ve increased our enrollment by 4.6 percent this fall. We’d never settle for a goal as far as a number we want to reach because we always want to keep climbing and see our enrollment grow each semester, but we would like to see us ultimately above 2,000. I don’t think we’re far from reaching that goal at all.”

ESCC services 5 Alabama counties in the Wiregrass area. The AAC services Alabama, as well as Georgia, and Florida. Both colleges provide education and training conveniently and affordably.

“Community colleges provide two of the biggest conveniences for students: affordability and accessibility,” Ammons said. “Community college is not discounted; it’s not clearance education. It’s the biggest bang for your buck. Students can leave here debt free. We offer multiple scholarships, and students leave either using a stepping stone to higher education at a four-year school or receiving the skills and training they need to enter the workforce.

“We’re available for any educational need, whether you’re wanting to go to work, to learn new skills or come back to refresh your skills or looking to transfer to a four-year institution. We can help you get there.”

Almost 30 community members learned about nutrition and personal health from local trainer Cornelius Boulton during Enterprise State Community College’s “Eating Well” workshop on Tuesday, Aug. 27.

Boulton is heavily involved in personal fitness and lead workout classes in the community. He is a certified personal trainer, sports nutritionist, strength and conditioning coach, and USA Boxing coach.

According to Community Education Coordinator Ann Kelley, the workshop allowed attendees to ask questions about nutrition, personal health and exercise.

“It was discussion-oriented,” she said. “He really went into depth with the information, and there were some really good questions.”

Boulton taught attendees about food choices and how those choices effect a person’s body and health, such as by reducing the risk of several diseases, high blood pressure, cholesterol and more.

Boulton explained the terms macronutrients and micronutrients – the protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals a body needs – and shared the importance of drinking plenty of water.

He also talked about basic metabolic rate and how it can be used to calculate personal caloric intake.

“It was very informative,” Kelley said. “Everyone just seemed to get a lot out of it.”

Boulton will return to ESCC to lead a monthly “bootcamp” workout on the front lawn of the campus in front of Wallace Hall as part of a new “Let’s Get Physical Under the Oaks” program.

“We’re just wanting to get the community involved in being healthy,” Kelley said. “It’s about just feeling good about yourself. It’s just getting out and moving and feeling good overall.”

The workout will be held on the third Saturday of each month, with the first event being held on Sept. 21.

“Everybody bring their yoga mats, and we’re going to do workouts,” Kelley said.

Each monthly workout will start at 7 a.m. The cost to participate is $5 a person. For more information, contact Natalie Bradley at (334) 347-2623 ext. 2340 or nbradley@escc.edu.

Two scholarships available! Applications must be submitted by August 31, 2019. Read more at https://escc.edu/admissions/scholarships/.

We had 10 CDL graduates and our first driver evaluation trainee.

Walter Anderson (Driver Evaluation Trainee)
Stuart Bennett
Timothy Bennett
Armanda Carlisle
John David Daniels
Mary Frazier
David Gilmer
Hikeem Hicks
Brad Jerkins
Kimberly Lara
Brandon Tisdale

http://www.southeastsun.com/daleville/article_5d45d658-a318-11e9-8475-5f622a9660cc.html
Aubri Hanson’s career has brought her from NASA to the Alabama Aviation Center, where she is using her knowledge of the workforce to bring a new, needed program to the area.

New mechatronics instructor Hanson began her education after a former employer encouraged her to pursue a degree in electronics.

“He just kind of noticed a talent that I had for electronics,” she said. “He encouraged me to go to college and major in electronics, and I actually did major in electronics for three years. Then, I discovered that I really liked physics.”

Hanson attended college at Pittsburg State University and Kansas State University before attending the University of Southern Mississippi where she received her bachelor’s degree in physics with a minor in electronic engineering technology and mathematics. She also received her master’s degree in physics from USM.

One of her first experiences working with electronics was with a news channel in Kansas. Since then, she has worked for VirCon Engineering Research and Development, Radiance Technologies and NASA.

“Even though my degrees are in physics, I’ve always worked as an engineer,” she said, stating she’s worked with radiation detection, on the Mars simulation and the Return to Flight program.

Her time in education started when she came to the Wiregrass. Hanson started teaching science classes at Enterprise High School in 2011 while also teaching a LabVIEW class as an adjunct at Gulf Coast State College (GCSC) in Panama City.

“I did not set out to be a teacher,” she said. “Research is what I really thought I wanted to do, and I did. I liked doing the research. I have a lot of publications related to that, the research that I did.

“It was a LabVIEW field engineer that I had worked with when I was doing my graduate research at Southern Miss. He knew that Gulf Coast State College needed somebody to teach LabVIEW, and he’s the one that kind of thought that I would be good at doing that. Once I started doing it, I was hooked. I just enjoyed it. I really liked teaching, and I was told by a lot of students and other faculty that I was good at it.”

After serving as an adjunct teacher at GCSC for a year, she was offered the chance to take over the college’s engineering technology program, which offered four specializations.

She was over the program for three years, during which time she said the program grew “over 400 percent” and had one of the largest, if not the largest at the time, precentages of female enrollments in the state of Florida. She received the Manufacturing Post-Secondary Educator of the Year award for the growth of this program in 2014.

During her time in college, Hanson said she was one of just a few women in her program.

“It’s a lot different now than when I went through college,” she said. “It’s changed a lot, and some of it is that women aren’t as scared of it now, you know. If they can see another woman doing it and being successful at it, that’s a good example for them.”

Though there has been an increase in women joining STEM fields, Hanson said she just wants to help all her students be the best fit for any job they apply for.

“To me, it’s more about who can do the job,” she said. “Pick the best person for the job. I tell people, I don’t care what gender they are; I don’t care what color they are. I don’t care about any of that, just does the person have the talent for whatever career that is.”

After her success with the engineering technology program at GCSC, Hanson said she was recruited to start a new program at Chipola College. She served there for three years.

She then served as an adjunct at Wiregrass Georgia Technical College, where she taught engineering technology and physics, returning to her roots.

“I loved it,” she said, smiling. “I loved teaching physics.”

While at WGTC, connections put Hanson in contact with President Matt Rodgers and Dean of Instruction Danny Long at Enterprise State Community College to provide insight into starting a mechatronics program.

“They called me, really, just to give them some advice about starting a program, first,” she said. “Then, I applied for the position when they were ready to hire someone. So, I started with Enterprise State officially in March.”

To start a new program like the mechatronics program, she said the school needed to show a need for it in the community.

“Industry has to be on board with what you’re doing, and that’s what the state wants to see,” Hanson said. “They want to make sure that you have industry support, that there are going to be jobs available for your students when they graduate.”

During her time in education, Hanson said she has personally seen the need for more individuals to have credentials in STEM fields like mechatronics.

“The more I worked in the education field, the more I would see industry coming to me, and I could not produce enough graduates to fill all the jobs that were available,” she said. “That’s how I kind of started leaning towards workforce development more, and it has kind of become a passion of mine.

“The number one reason (this program is important) is the skills gap because we’re going to have so many people retire out of manufacturing in the next 10 years that we don’t have enough of the younger generation to replace them. As these jobs become harder and harder to fill, the wages are going to go up and up and up.

“They’re saying nationwide, they expect 4.6 million jobs to be available in the next 10 years and only about 2.4 million of those to be filled.”

Though the program is ready for its first students in the fall, Hanson said she has not stopped reaching out to potential students or local industries.

“This summer, I’m still back out talking to industry, making sure we’re on the same page and seeing if we can create some training classes for their employees to go along with our credit courses,” she said. “Then, I’ve been in high school, trying to recruit students.”

She said she has found that having experience in this field allows her to provide insight for students asking about mechatronics and the school’s program.

“I hear a lot from students that I can tell them why they’re learning what they’re learning,” she said. “They want to know why is this important?”

To provide an example, she said one of the Mars lunar landers crashed “because they didn’t properly do a conversion between English and metric (measurements).”

“They always want to know why do I have to learn this; why do I have to know this math?” she said. “A lot of time, I can give them an example of when that matters.”

Hanson also tries to tell potential students that manufacturing, a field in which mechatronics is found, has changed in the past decades.

“One of the biggest things we fight with getting young people interested is they think manufacturing is standing at an assembly line and operating a screw gun all day or something like that,” she said. “They think it’s what it was 20 years ago, and it is absolutely not that anymore.

“Manufacturing now is, for the most part, automated, so you’re not standing at the assembly line running the screwdriver; you’re standing there operating the robot or programming the robot that is doing that more menial task, and automation doesn’t replace jobs; it doesn’t get rid of jobs for people. It just changes what those jobs are.”

AAC offers several avenues to receive credentials in mechatronics. High school students can take dual-enrollment courses, industrial certifications can be completed in just a couple of weeks, college credit certifications can be completed in several semesters and a two-year program is also offered.

Hanson said the AAC also plans to grow.

“We’re going to become a Center of Excellence for NC3 Festo certifications, so that’s a big deal,” she said. Festo Didactic is “a global manufacturer of process control and factory automation solutions.”

“Another big goal is to get the program off the ground here, and once it’s successful, we want to duplicate it on other campuses,” she said.

She encouraged those who enjoyed hands-on work or those who might think mechatronics is a field they might enjoy.

“This program is for anybody who likes working hands on because the majority of the learning is done hands on,” she said. “This is not traditional engineering in the sense that you’re not going to sit in a classroom and study theory out of textbooks and have to do a lot of math.

“College is about trying things, so if anybody thinks they might have an inkling to do this, come try it. There’s no harm in it. You might find that you’re good at it; that’s kind of what happened to me.”

https://www.dothaneagle.com/enterprise_ledger/news/seact-summer-camp-concludes-with-performance/article_fd1986f2-a4e9-11e9-b26e-db6ad634981a.html

Southeast Alabama Community Theatre Summer Camp, hosted at Enterprise State Community College, concluded last Friday with performances by actors and actresses from both classes offered at the camp. The camp, which featured 40 actors and actresses, was hosted at ESCC for the first time thanks to the efforts of ESCC Fine Arts Division Chair Ken Thomas. Here, students in one SEACT camp class perform “The Jitterbug” before beginning a play.

The campers, ages five through 12, learned a 13-scene stage play, “The Wizard of Oz.” SEACT Summer Camp was intended to promote public speaking, creativity and social skills in area youth. According to ESCC Public Relations Director Stephen Schmidt, the college was happy to host a great program for the community that promotes the arts in the Wiregrass. Schmidt said ESCC looks forward to hosting the event again next year.

https://www.dothaneagle.com/enterprise_ledger/news/escc-presents-mechatronics-program-to-alabama-community-college-system/article_59e39450-a4e9-11e9-891d-1b5e693fd898.html

MONTGOMERY — On July 10, a team representing Enterprise State Community College was given the honor of presenting their new Mechatronics program to the Alabama Community College System Board work session in Montgomery. To fully explain and display the program and its future impact, ESCC President Matt Rodgers wanted some members of his team present during the work session.

“The Mechatronics program and other programs implemented in the past year would not be possible without a committed staff working to provide new ways to serve our community,” said Rodgers. “Programs are important but it is the people that make them possible.”

Mechatronics, a program for students interested in industrial automation jobs, is starting this fall at ESCC. The program will incorporate electrical, mechanical, and computer engineering to prepare students in one of the world’s largest high-tech manufacturing fields. Students will study for both industrial and college certifications as well as degrees from ESCC in Mechatronics.
Beginning this fall, ESCC will have launched six new programs at ESCC and at the Alabama Aviation College in Ozark. ESCC is currently going through the accreditation process to have a seventh program, Paramedics, approved for next year.

Rex Lumber, an ESCC industry partner, sent Michelle Schaefer to represent their company at the ACCS board meeting. Rex Lumber is a new business in Pike County that will provide 110 jobs. This company was the first company who reached out to offer a full scholarship to a student entering the new Mechatronics program.

“Through the leadership of the Board of Trustees and Chancellor Jimmy Baker, the Alabama Community College System continues to positively impact workforce development in Alabama,” said Ian Campbell, ESCC’s director of Workforce Development. “Enterprise State is proud to have the support of ACCS and excited about the new Mechatronics program on the Ozark campus. This program will meet the current and future workforce needs of our local manufacturing and associated industries through a flexible, relevant, industry driven curriculum model.”

http://www.southeastsun.com/home/article_c883e57e-a316-11e9-ad0f-770d7e499592.html
Enterprise State Community College will be holding job readiness classes as well as a job fair throughout the month of July.

Two free classes will be held at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. each day in Talmadge Hall, Room 105, on July 16 and July 23. The classes are open to the public.

Enterprise Career Center Veteran Employment Representative Michael Warren said that these classes have “proven to have a high success rate for those who attend.”

Warren and Mike Kozlowski from Fort Rucker will serve as the instructors for the classes.

These classes serve to help prepare possible attendees for the Fort Rucker-Wiregrass Job Fair to be held on July 31 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at ESCC.

Warren stressed that the job fair is open to all residents in the Wiregrass and not just military personnel.

“This is open to everyone with myriad opportunities of employment: local, in-state, tri-state, across the country and outside of the country at a multitude of wages,” Warren said.

Anyone who would like to attend the job fair can sign up at bit.ly/ftrwajf19.

https://www.dothaneagle.com/enterprise_ledger/news/camp-weevil-offers-learning-and-fun-to-area-youth/article_726a15e6-9916-11e9-92fd-23a931bb797b.html

Enterprise State Community College this week hosted the 2019 Camp Weevil, offering kids the opportunity to stay mentally and physically active over the summer break with a variety of activities including “Wild About Art” and “Ooey Gooey Science.” The camp was a joint effort between ESCC and the Alabama 4-H Cooperative Extension System, and is designed to help students learn without pressure according to Ann Kelley, instructional resources and community education director at ESCC. Pictured (from left) are Geremiah Brown, Presley Findley, Kaydence Horne and Jackson Owens working together to construct a roller coaster worthy of Six Flags.