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Southern Union State Community College in Valley held an open house on Wednesday to share with community leaders about the programs offered and recent progress.

“I think we’ve got a tremendous opportunity,” said SUSCC President Todd Shackett. “We want to be at the forefront of that partnering with these companies that choose to be in Chambers County and help them grow and help them get the skills and resources they need.”

Graduation for SUSCC this year is July 18. This year, the program served over 1500 students in the area. The year before, there were around 1100 students in the program. In 2021, during the pandemic, it had approximately 500. 

“There clearly is a need for adult education in this area,” said Director of Adult Education Connor Chauveaux.

In addition to GED classes, Southern Union also offers a dual enrollment program for high school students. Across the Valley, Opelika and Wadley campuses, SUSCC had 1,005 students enrolled in dual enrollment.

SUSCC also now offers English as a Second Language (ESL) classes in the adult education program. 

Many students are working or taking care of families. SUSCC offers weekend courses for certain programs to alleviate that burden on students. The school also offers “concurrent enrollment,” which allows students to take courses at Auburn University in addition to SUSCC. Auburn’s classes will be charged at SUSCC’s rate. For next year, the enrollment per quarter hour is $127.

“It’s very economical,” said Dean of Academics Linda Brown.

SUSCC will soon be adding a veterinary technician program to its Valley campus. The station will include animal models. Then, students will move over to Auburn’s campus to work with live animals.

The school has an Electrical Technology program, in which students have hands-on learning with equipment they might face in the workplace. 

“I came to Southern Union back in May to teach the electrical program,” said Program Director Augustus Tucker. “I’m really, really excited about it because we’ve got some great things going on there.”

Tucker said he helps his students find workforce development opportunities and paid internships throughout the program. Many of the positions pay around $16-23 per hour.