Crisp County Center Groundbreaking Ceremony – Shown above (l to r) is Craig Buckley of Buckley and Associates; Tommy Carter of International City Builders, Dr. John Watford, President Sparky Reeves, former State Representative Johnny Floyd, Bobby Cromer, Senior Project Manager for GSFIC, Billy Cannon of the Cordele Crisp Chamber of Commerce, James Nash of the Crisp County Board of Commissioners and Zack Wade of the Cordele City Council.

SGTC President Sparky Reeves presents the Golden Shovel Award to former State Representative Johnny Floyd.

A large crowd of local officials, board members, community leaders, faculty, staff, and supporters attended the South Georgia Technical College groundbreaking ceremony recently for the new 21,000 square foot $5.9 million Crisp County Center building expansion.

Approximately 150 local officials, board members, community leaders, faculty, staff, and supporters attended the South Georgia Technical College groundbreaking ceremony recently for the new 21,000 square foot $5.9 million Crisp County Center building expansion. The ceremony was held adjacent to the construction site at the SGTC Crisp County Center campus at 402 North Midway Road in Cordele.

“On behalf of South Georgia Technical College, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the Crisp County Center expansion groundbreaking ceremony,” said SGTC President Sparky Reeves. “This new expansion will allow us to increase our course offerings in Crisp County as well as continue to meet the work force development needs of business and industry in Crisp County and the surrounding region.”

Students are able to obtain associate degree, diploma and technical college certificates of credit at the South Georgia Technical College Crisp County Center in addition to general core, adult education, and non-credit continuing education classes. The college also offers high school students dual enrollment opportunities.

Former District 147 State Representative Johnny Floyd, Crisp County Board of Commissioners Chair James Nance, Cordele City Council Chair Zack Wade, and Cordele Crisp County Chamber of Commerce Chair Billy Cannon, each expressed their appreciation to South Georgia Technical College for expanding its current facility.

SGTC President Sparky Reeves recognized Mr. Anthony LaPorte, Sr. for his generous land donation to the South Georgia Technical College Foundation for the current Crisp County Center building and the new expansion. “We have the LaPorte family to thank for this piece of property in Crisp County,” said President Reeves. “Without the LaPorte’s we would not be here today.”

Reeves also asked Former State Representative Johnny Floyd to step up to the podium. “Johnny Floyd was very instrumental in helping South Georgia Tech to secure the funding for this 21,000 square foot expansion,” explained Reeves. “Despite the tough economic times, Johnny Floyd saw the need for this expansion and worked to insure that the college had the funds it needed to build the expansion as well as have additional funds to furnish the building. Because of his dedication and determination to see this project through, I would like to present Johnny Floyd with this Golden Shovel Award.”

The plaque read, “Golden Shovel Award presented to former State Representative Johnny Floyd in appreciation of his dedication and service to South Georgia Technical College Crisp County Center, April 10th, 2009.”

Dr. John Watford, South Georgia Technical College Vice President of Operations for the Crisp County Center, thanked the entire Crisp County community for their support of South Georgia Technical College. For the past two quarters, the SGTC Crisp County Center has enrolled over 600 students in credit classes.

“Thank you for coming to help us commemorate the beginning of construction for this much needed annex. The community has always been an integral part of this school and your presence here is symbolic of the continued support that we receive for educating the workforce of Crisp County. South Georgia Tech has had a presence in Cordele for over 20 years and the exponential growth in enrollment indicates that this trend will continue,” said Dr. Watford.

After those brief remarks, South Georgia Technical College President Sparky Reeves and Vice President of Operations Dr. John Watford asked former State Representative Johnny Floyd, James Nance, Zack Wade, and Billy Cannon to join them along with Tommy Carter of International City Builders, Craig Buckley of Buckley and Associates, and Bobby Cromer, Senior Project Manager of Georgia State Finance and Investment Commission (GSFIC) for the actual ground breaking. These nine individuals lifted golden shovels of dirt to officially signify the expansion groundbreaking.

The original South Georgia Technical College Crisp County Center was completed in 1999. The existing facility includes 54,000 square feet of modern classrooms and high-tech training labs, a library, bookstore, auditorium and student center.

The Crisp County Center is currently serving twice as many students as the building was originally designed to accommodate. The facility was built to accommodate approximately 500 students in degree and diploma credit programs each quarter.

Since the facility’s construction, enrollment has surpassed the 600 mark for credit programs. It is currently serving another 500 students each quarter through adult literacy, continuing education, and business/industry training classes. SGTC has been utilizing the existing library and auditorium for classroom space to accommodate that growth. Additional classes have been scheduled in the evening as well as online through GVTC to ease space restrictions.

The new expansion will include state-of-the-art Nursing and Medical Assisting classrooms and labs, a Culinary Arts kitchen and classroom, two Quickstart labs, and four general use classrooms.”

For more information about South Georgia Technical College or the Crisp County Center campus visit the college website at: www.southgatech.edu.

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