Ribbon Cutting at Chattahoochee Tech

Chattahoochee TechnicalCollege’s Paulding Campus held the ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the new two-story 47,625-square-foot instructional building, a project managed by Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission. The new building offers students an expanded library, computer labs, biology, chemistry and nursing labs along with tutoring and learning support labs. The building includes a meeting room with a seating capacity of 100 and a catering kitchen. This is the first major construction project on the Paulding campus since the original building was dedicated in November 1996.

The opening ceremony began with a special flag presentation by the Chattahoochee Technical College Public Safety Department. CTC Student Advisor Audra Tillman sang the National Anthem. Mike Knowles, Chairman of the CTC Board of Directors, welcomed everyone to the Paulding campus. Carolyn Delamont, President and CEO of the Paulding Chamber of Commerce, also provided a welcome on behalf of the chamber and all members for sponsoring this special event. Stevan Crew, Co-Vice Chairman of the CTC Board of Directors, recognized all special guests attending the ceremony. Vice-Chairman Crew discussed the early stages in meeting and planning for the original ChattahoocheeTechnicalCollege building in the early 1990s and in later years the expansion of the campus to offer more programs to students in PauldingCounty as the college continues to grow.

Ron Jackson, Commissioner of the Technical College System of Georgia, spoke about the completed merger of Chattahoochee Tech, North Metro Tech and Appalachian Tech into one college with multiple campuses and a community focus. Commissioner Jackson said that everything went so smoothly in that he was receiving phone calls from around the country asking how they could make it work in their state at their college.

The Speaker of House, the Honorable Glenn Richardson, was the keynote speaker. Speaker Richardson said, “We are so fortunate to be standing here today in front of this beautiful learning facility because of others like Stevan Crew and Jim Talley who had a dream and the vision to put a technical college on this piece of dirt in PauldingCounty for our children. They are the true visionaries.”

“This day October 13, 2009, is a benchmark in the history of PauldingCounty. We are here to open the doors of opportunity for thousands of individuals who will benefit from the effort, dedication, and foresight of the leaders of this county,” said Dr. Sanford Chandler, President of Chattahoochee Technical College. “I thank each of you for being here today showing your support of this college and its newest facility. The flag that was raised today is the very first CTC newly merged college school flag to be raised over one of our seven campuses. This flag will memorialize your attendance today and your leadership contribution to the citizens of PauldingCounty. I appreciate everyone’s contribution to the construction of this 47,625 square foot facility. When you tour this building you will realize the quality and attention to detail that parallels our faculty and staff commitment to each and every student.”