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Past and present students and faculty gathered at Volunteer State Community College’s Gallatin campus for the school’s recent 50th anniversary celebration.
Hundreds of people turned out to mark the community college’s 50th year with a luncheon and live entertainment.
Rain and wind threatened the outdoor celebration, just as it did decades ago when on a cold and blustery day in November of 1970, officials broke ground at Vol State.
First offering courses in October 1971, teachers held class in an old hotel in Gallatin and anywhere else available space could be found in Sumner County.
Vol State’s first graduation ceremony was held on June 9, 1973 with 57 students. 581 students enrolled that first quarter.
The school’s 2019 enrollment totaled more than 9,000 students.
But the growth hasn’t stopped there, as the main Gallatin campus has expanded to eighteen buildings and other campuses have been built in Springfield, Cookeville and Livingston.
Vol State now offers more than 100 areas of study including Humanities, Health Sciences, Business and Technology, Math and Science, Nursing and Social Science and Education via two-year degrees, certificates and paths to university transfer.
Students may also take advantage of the school’s online learning.
Festivities leading up to the celebration had been carried out online due to COVID-19.
Many guests attending the outdoor lunch on the Thigpen Library Lawn seized their opportunity to welcome the school’s new president, Dr. Orinthia Montague, who began her tenure on Sep. 1.
The event’s entertainment featured a special live edition of the radio talk show The Vol State Chat on WVCP-FM 88.5 that included students and staff’s experiences from 1971, the first year the college opened its doors.
Vol State student musicians also performed for guests during the event.
For more information on the history of the college, visit www.volstate.edu/50th.
Katie Nixon can be reached at knixon@gannett.com or (615) 517-1285.
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