From Beaufort County Community College

ROPER — On March 10, college officials and political figures cut the ribbon on the Washington County Center, bringing Beaufort County Community College (BCCC) classes to a permanent location in the county.

The open house was sponsored by BCCC’s Division of Continuing Education, the Washington County Board of Commissioners, the Washington County Chamber of Commerce and the Northeastern Workforce Development Board.

The center, located at 100 N.C. Highway 32 North in Roper, enables BCCC to bring a variety of adult basic education, personal interest, small business, occupational and health-related classes to Washington County for the first time in many years.

As a result of legislation approved last year by the N.C. General Assembly, BCCC was authorized to provide all classes offered by its Division of Continuing Education to Washington County residents in their home county. In response, BCCC opened the Washington County Center in order to give the college a permanent location to provide these classes.

“BCCC is delighted to be able to serve the people of Washington County in their home county,” said Vice President of Continuing Education Stacey Gerard. “Our continuing education faculty and staff have worked hard to develop a schedule of classes that will appeal to our Washington County student population.”

The ribbon cutting featured a welcome and introduction by Ellen Respass, with the Washington County Chamber of Commerce. This was followed by remarks from N.C. Rep. Paul Tine, BCCC President Barbara Tansey, N.C. Sen. Erica Smith-Ingram, Washington County Board of Commissioners Chairman Cole Phelps and Roper Mayor Denise Blount.

The Washington County Center is a 7,500-square-foot facility that features classrooms, computer workstations and a health sciences lab for nurse aide and other health-related classroom work.

Several continuing education classes have already been held in the center and several more — including “Adult Basic Education and High School Equivalency,” “Job Seeking Tools,” “National Career Readiness Certification Prep Class,” “Defensive Driving,” “Taking Your Home Business to the World Market with Etsy” and “Beginning Microsoft Excel for Small Business” — are scheduled to be offered this spring.

For more information about classes offered at the Washington County Center, contact the Division of Continuing Education at 252-940-6375 or visit the division’s webpage at www.beaufortccc.edu and click on the Continuing Education link.