SPRINGDALE -- Today was a long awaited day, several speakers said at Northwest Arkansas Community College's Washington County ground breaking ceremony.
"I might have had doubts at points in time that this wouldn't take place," said Perry Webb, Springdale Chamber of Commerce president and CEO.
Capital Campaign
Northwest Arkansas Community College Foundation announced its public portion of the capital campaign, NWACC Now, for the Washington County Center on Wednesday.
It’s raised $4.5 million of the $12 million goal.
Donors include:
• $2 million from the Walton Family Foundation
• $1.5 million from the Jackson G. and Ella Frances Byrd Trust
• $100,000 from the Black Hills Corp. Foundation
• $750,000 from Walmart Foundation
Source: Staff Report
Webb was one of nearly 200 people at the ground breaking held on Watkins Road just west of Arvest Ballpark. The vacant 20 acres will become the home of the college's 38,000-square-foot Washington County Center.
Conversations about the college building a facility in Washington County began more than a decade ago, Webb said, explaining a lot of hurdles had to be cleared including state bureaucracy and politics of Benton and Washington counties.
"At the end of the day, it's here," he said. "I'm a believer."
The college bought the land about three and a half years ago. Construction will begin this summer, and the facility will open in fall of 2019 if "everything goes perfectly," Evelyn Jorgenson, college president, said in her remarks. That's a best case scenario. A more likely scenario is that the center will open spring 2020, she said.
Hight Jackson Associates is the project architect, and Milestone Construction is the project contractor.
The college started as a "college without walls" in 1990, Jorgenson said. The Bentonville campus was built in 1995. The institution has grown to be the largest community college in the state, she said, which has served more than 100,000 students in its 27 years.
Nearly 95 percent of community college students remain in their communities, so it's no doubt that Northwest Arkansas Community College graduates will play a vital role in the region's workforce and economy, she said.
About 36 percent of the college's 7,700 students for the 2017-2018 school year lived in Washington County, according to college statistics.
"The time is now to expand our growth in this region with a true NWACC home here in Springdale," Jorgenson said.
The college currently leases more than 25,000 square feet in three locations in Washington County. They will be consolidated into the Washington County Center, said Joe Spivey, college board chairman. The new center is about providing accessible, quality education to people throughout the region, he said.
The Northwest Arkansas Community College Foundation also launched the public portion of its capital campaign, NWACC Now, at the event. It's raised $4.2 million of its $12 million goal, according to Annetta Tirey, foundation executive director.
The campaign's logo is of an oak leaf, which ties to the college's logo of an oak tree and represents the expansion and growth of the college as its Washington County Center becomes a reality, said Mike Luttrell, foundation board chairman.
NW News on 06/28/2018