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GTCC Plans Groundbreaking Ceremony for Classroom Addition in High Point

News from Office of Marketing and Public Information             
Jamestown, NC 27282

Contact: Bob Burchette 336-334-4822, Ext. 2566                                 ROBurchette@gtcc.edu

Coretta Montague 336-334-4822, Ext. 2487

(Released: 8/21/10)

GTCC PLANS GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY FOR CLASSROOM ADDITION IN HIGH POINT

HIGH POINT - Guilford Technical Community College trustees and other community leaders will participate in a groundbreaking ceremony at 9:30 a.m. Thursday (August 28) for an $8 million classroom project on GTCC's High Point campus.

J.S. Clark Co. of Mount Airy, which was awarded the construction contract for $6,234,800 on July 17, is expected to begin construction in the coming weeks. The three- tier building is scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2009.

The total price for the project, including design fees, parking facilities, landscaping and equipping the building, will be about $8 million.

The ceremony will be in the parking lot at 901 S. Main St. Speakers will be Dr. Don W. Cameron, president of GTCC; Shirley Frye, chair of the college's board of trustees; Rebecca Smothers, mayor of High Point; Kirk Perkins, chair of Guilford County Commissioners; and Janette McNeill, dean of the High Point campus.

High Point City Council, GTCC trustees, High Point Chamber of Commerce board members, High Point Partnership, Guilford County Commissioners, the Guilford County legislative delegation, the GTCC President's Council and GTCC Foundation board members, architects, general contractor and the GTCC High Point staff and faculty will be among the guests.

The firm of Harrell, Saltrick and Hopper, PC, of Charlotte is architect for the building. Funds for the project are coming from a local bond referendum approved in 2004.

Construction of the building couldn't come any sooner for the dean of the High Point campus, who said that the satellite campus is in a space crunch. "We serve between 5,000 and 6,000 students on this campus and we are expecting even more students," McNeill said.

This will be the fifth building on the High Point campus, which also is getting some rearrangement of parking areas, the entrance to the college and landscaping, she said.

"We now have 1,650 seats for students, and the new building will give us 2,150 seats," McNeill said. "A student will be able to start and finish their two-year curriculum degree program in that building. There will be more room for developmental education classes, and we will have a biology lab and a physics lab. We don't have science labs now," she said. There also will be four new computer labs, McNeill said.

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