Spartanburg Community College showcases new downtown campus

Published: Friday, August 2, 2013 at 3:54 p.m.

Last Modified: Friday, August 2, 2013 at 3:54 p.m.

SCC President Henry C. Giles Jr. walked a small group through the halls of the three-story Evans Academic Center, which will house SCC, Spartanburg High School's Viking Early College and the offices of S.C. Works Upstate.

The building, which dates to the early 1920s, has been under renovations for most of the last year, with nearly $19.4 million of work being down to restore some of the building's historic features and update other parts into state-of-the-art classrooms.

As workers painted, carried furniture and installed door fixtures and lights, Giles spoke of the restoration efforts. He said officials thought it was important to restore the building, constructed in 1921 for $300,000, to its former grandeur because of the role it has played in Spartanburg education.

The downtown campus was the original site of a wooden high school, built in 1897. It was replaced by the current building, which was Frank Evans High School from 1922 to 1933, Spartanburg High School from 1933 to 1959, and Evans Junior High School from 1959 to 1978, when it was sold to the county and used as office space.

The schools' graduates have paid particular interest in the renovations, Giles said, and efforts have been made to restore the entrances to how they would have looked decades ago.

?We would like their first thoughts when they come into this lobby to be ?This is my school,'? Giles said while standing inside the East Kennedy Street entrance.

The college also will have a ?Wall of History? that will show the building's legacy, while other features, such as the 515-seat auditorium and a gymnasium, have been restored to how they once looked. The auditorium has led to interest in the school eventually having theatre courses, Giles said, and while the school has no plans for the gymnasium, it could be used by nearby Meeting Street Academy or other groups.

He also said some have talked about the school starting a basketball team.

?That's not in our immediate plans, but who knows,? Giles said.

Giles showed off some of the building's original features, including crown molding and ornate brickwork, as well as dogwood blossoms and buds outside the Dean Street entrance.

?In today's dollars, we wouldn't be able to afford it,? he said of the building's construction.

Other small touches will be found throughout the building, Giles said. For example, the school's original master clock will return to where the principal's office once was, even though that space will now be part of the campus library.

?This is the way it looked,? said Joseph Lauer, a project manager and representative for the SCC Foundation, of the restoration efforts. ?It's come back to life.?

The campus will include offices, classrooms, laboratories, a bookstore and multiple study rooms and conference rooms, officials said.

?We don't have space like this on our main campus,? Giles said.

The classrooms, however, will be a far cry from the rooms the building housed in the mid-20th century, Giles said.

Each is equipped with state-of-the-art technology.

?This will equal or exceed any classroom we have on our central campus, and I think it would equal or exceed any classroom on any campus,? Giles said.

The 107,000-square-foot building was purchased by SCC in 2011 in return for $3.34 million and ownership of the Dent Building on Fairforest Road.

The campus not only will allow SCC to expand, but will allow it to reach an underserved population near the city center, Giles said, while expanding partnerships with Spartanburg High School and S.C. Works Upstate.

Terry Pruitt, deputy superintendent of Spartanburg School District 7, said the Viking Early College would be the first of its kind in the Upstate, a male-only program that will prepare students for college while allowing them to earn both their high school diplomas and an associate's degrees.

The program will start with a class of 20 ninth-grade students and add a class each year.

?It is significant that this was Spartanburg High School,? Pruitt said of the building's history. ?It's like we're coming home.?

Rochelle Brown of S.C. Works Upstate said the new space would replace the current facility at 110 Commerce St. She said the new space will allow for the expansion of programs, twice the space for computers for job-seekers and more job fairs.

It also will help create a closer relationship with SCC.

?The space and the opportunities here are really giving us a chance to do new and unique things,? Brown said.

Source: http://www.goupstate.com/article/20130802/articles/130809921

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