Southwestern Community College

Southwestern Community College is a two-year college located in Sylva, North Carolina, an educational institution providing post-secondary education and lower-level tertiary education, granting certificates, diplomas, and associate degrees. The school is a member of the 59-campus North Carolina Community College System.HistoryThe beginnings of Southwestern Community College can be traced back to April 1961 when a need for skilled textile workers brought representatives of the North Carolina state Trade and Industrial Education Department to Jackson County. The county responded, and began setting up training classes in local schools and in other county locations. The NC Board of Education provided needed equipment and logistics, and began hiring instructors, and an advisory panel was set up from local residents to oversee the project.The genesis of the idea for a college in western North Carolina came out of those advisory group meetings, and coincidentally, the NC Board of Education was beginning negotiations with the Legislature to begin designating funds for a system of state technical colleges. By 1963, Jackson County had obtained a 17acre site for locating the college, and by May 1964, 90 percent of the block work for the building was completed, with local masonry students providing much of the labor. The students, predominantly local residents who had been taking introductory classes in the previously established trade schools, were ready for hands-on experience.Work continued on the building until late 1965. The one-story 18000sqft structure consisted of five classrooms, four laboratory areas, five instructor offices, two administrative offices, three shop areas, a boiler room, and a coal storage area. The building, appraised at $120,000 when completed, was constructed at a cost of $70,000, principally because student labor helped keep expenses down. Jackson County Industrial Education Center was born as a satellite of Asheville-Buncombe Technical College.