News

Leaders praise new Patton Building for its high-tech agility

County commissioners and Blue Ridge Community College leaders look on as County Commission Chair Bill Lapsley cuts ribbon on the new Patton Building.

By Bill Moss, Published: July 13, 2022

The dedication of the new Patton Building on the campus of Blue Ridge Community College on Tuesday morning stirred county leaders to lofty rhetoric about the power of working together to change students’ lives, train the county’s manufacturing workforce and making the local economy strong.

Several hundred people from the government, business, education and political arenas gathered for the words of praise and a ribbon cutting under a blue sky and mild temperatures.
Funded by the Henderson County Board of Commissioners, the $23.4 million building for education, training and administration features 78,739 square feet of new and renovated space.
“At Blue Ridge Community College we aim to transform lives through the power of learning,” said Chip Gould, chair of the college’s Board of Trustees. “It’s a pretty massive building but it makes a great statement. The first one is that Blue Ridge Community College is ready and prepared to train the workforce of tomorrow. Second, the Henderson County commissioners are committed to Blue Ridge Community College by providing yet another state-of-the-art facility for us to work out of. And the third is to our employers: You now have a workforce training center from which you can gain skilled and trained workers and you can also send your current employees back for additional education.”
County Manager John Mitchell said the building’s floor plan was strategic. Consolidating workforce training, education and administrative offices in the new space is “going to be key to our long-term economic mission in this county because the president of the college will be literally right next to the flex lab (training) space, which is going to allow the partnership between industry and education the focal point of what we do here,” he said.
“The community college is not good for its own sake. It’s good because of what it does,” he added. “The Board of Commissioners, when they make investments like this, they make them on behalf of the next generation. This republic is ours to keep. And when I see all the community leaders here today, I know that it’s in good hands. It makes me feel good.”
County Commission Chair Bill Lapsley said current and past commissioners have supported BRCC because BRCC sparks the economy.
“The Board of County Commissioners is pleased to continue, and I stress that word continue, because as others have said this is not a new approach for us as commissioners,” he said. “We have continued over many years on this board as well as previous boards to give the financial support for new and improved educational infrastructure to facilitate occupational opportunities for the citizens of Henderson County. The completion of this upgrade and expansion of the Patton Building is just another step forward in raising the skills and training level for the future employees of our growing manufacturing and business community.”
BRCC President Laura Leatherwood also noted the close collaboration between business and education.
The new Patton Building “was designed with the help of our local manufacturing representatives to tell us what they needed in this facility,” she said. On the second floor are two biology labs and two chemistry labs that “will aid our healthcare workforce training programs, including our nursing, pharmacy, paramedic as well as engineering and all of our degree and transfer programs.

“Now, speaking of state of the art, the technology is amazing in this facility. You’ll see touch screens as you walk around the facility, and we can simulate most any lab training in this facility. And if we learned anything throughout the pandemic, we learned that we cannot function without technology. We certainly can’t teach and our students cannot learn.”
She thanked Steve Wyatt, who during his 15 years as county manager was involved in more than $91 million worth of capital construction projects on the campus. The 105-seat Steven D. Wyatt Auditorium, honoring his service to BRCC, “will serve as an area where the community can gather for presentations, faculty can deliver their lectures and our drama program can share their productions,” she said.
Wyatt thanked Leatherwood, county commissioners and others for their support during his leadership of the county.
“The community college is in the business of changing lives,” he said. “A lot of folks have had their lives changed. So it’s a tremendous asset. You should love it. You love it now. You should cherish it. It represents the best of Henderson County, and really it represents the best of North Carolina.”