Governor Perdue Opens the Sam Way, Sr. Learning Center

HAWKINSVILLE – Governor Sonny Perdue traveled today to Hawkinsville to celebrate the opening of the Sam Way, Sr. Learning Center, a satellite campus of Middle Georgia Technical College.  The facility will serve as a workforce development center to attract industry to the Hawkinsville region.

“The Sam Way, Sr. Learning Center will enable Middle Georgia Tech to provide additional services and meet the growing needs of this community,” said Governor Sonny Perdue.  “The building of this center is a great example of cooperation between the state and the local community.”

The 14,494 square foot learning center was built with a $500,000 OneGeorgia grant and funds from a CDBG grant, USDA loan and a private anonymous donation.  Classes offered at the Hawkinsville Center can count towards associates’ degrees currently being awarded at the college’s main campus in Warner Robins.  The construction of the new facility supports a number of programs, including: Aircraft Structural Technology, Auto Service Technology, Health Science Technology, Business Education and Agriculture Education. It will also continue to offer adult literacy and general education degree programs.

The facility will contain multi-purpose classrooms, lab areas for technical training, industrial training areas, wireless internet access throughout the campus and other necessary space for the citizens of Hawkinsville, Pulaski County and surrounding areas.  Class instructors will have new offices in the Center, making them more available to students.  The facility is located in the city’s 232-acre North Industrial Park, easily accessible from highways 247 and 341.

“This new home for education in Hawkinsville will offer new opportunities to our citizens – opportunities to acquire new skills, and to expand on old ones,” Governor Perdue added. “The high-tech, growth industries of the future need workers with specialized skills.  And the people of Georgia need local resources that encourage adult literacy and general education. The new Sam Way, Sr. Learning Center will help fill all of those needs.”

The Middle Georgia Technical College has had a satellite campus in Hawkinsville for the last ten years.  Until now, the two-classroom Hawkinsville Center has been housed at the local Hollingsworth and Vose plant.  The new facility will boast eight classrooms in its new location.

The learning center will also increase opportunities for students to “dual enroll” in both high school and technical college. Many Hawkinsville students previously had to travel 35 miles to the Warner Robins campus to take needed classes. With this opening, they can take those classes in their local community. By earning both a high school diploma and a degree from the technical college, these students enter the workforce with the skills and training that have been identified by regional employers as critical to their success.

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