New students, new spaces at OTC this fall

By Steve Koehler

Fall classes at Ozarks Technical Community College begin Aug. 20 and overall enrollment is expected to crack the 12,000 mark this semester.

Last year, fall enrollment was 11,109, up nearly 1,000 from the year before and the projection is for enrollment to be up by nearly 10 percent again this year as class registration entered its final week.

When students arrive, they will find some new surroundings.

Additions to the Springfield campus include the $1.8 million addition to the west side of the Norman K. Myers Technical Education Center that was dedicated earlier this week

The project was funded through the Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative, a part of the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA).

The two-story addition to the center, named for the College’s founding president, will provide additional classroom space, a commodity that is in greater demand every semester at the College. In addition, some remodeling has been done to the existing building, including the conversion of office space into classrooms.  

The campus bookstore, previously operated by a private company, has been taken over by the College and has undergone some renovation and refurbishing.

At the College’s Richwood Valley campus, construction of a new storm shelter is complete. The facility, built to withstand 250-mile-per-hour winds, will house 1,382 people. It was built at a cost of $1.5 million with 75 percent of the money coming from a FEMA grant and 25 percent from the College.

The shelter is 9,665 square feet 6,911 square feet of usable space. There is also a new parking lot being built to accommodate citizens coming to use the shelter.

Richwood Valley will also be the home to the College’s Physical Therapy Assistant program for the first time this fall. Last year, the College moved the Medical Lab Technician program to Richwood Valley.

Steve Koehler is coordinator of publications at Ozarks Technical Community College.