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And recognizes the central role the community college -
this community college in particular -
plays in regional economic development.
Four years ago - five years ago -
then-governor Tim Kaine said that he thought community colleges
should be the central leader in workforce development across the Commonwealth
and he made fiscal policy changes to bring that about.
And it turns out that he was ahead of his time,
just as this community - with the development of this facility -
is way ahead of its time.
Look around at what's going on at the federal level
up at the state level
and the major educational foundations right now.
In so many places, they're developing policies and initiatives
that place the community college right in the middle
of the community economic workforce development.
So, congratulations on this accomplishment here today
and on your vast success up to this point
and best wishes as you embark on future challenges.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to be here.
Good morning!
Thank you Dr. Thompson-Stacy for the opportunity to be part
of the grand opening for the Corron Community Development
Center.
The Shenandoah Valley Workforce Investment Board began
working closely with Workforce Solutions here at LFCC two
years ago.
The objective was to identify a high growth industry sector
and develop a strategic regional workforce plan.
Under the leadership and with the vision of Jeanian Clark,
the ideas were really flowing.
Now – here we are two years later.
We are working diligently with fourteen partners, including
education and training providers, the public workforce
system and one-stop centers, economic development, and
countless employers.
And we have a $5M budget to provide skill development for
greening of our workforce.
We are successfully working to aggressively address emerging
workforce needs.
Anyone who partners with LFCC understands that synergistic
activities abound on and off of this campus.
Through the synergistic actions of many, this magnificent
new building symbolizes the vision of a college that is
strongly, steadily, and confidently moving forward to meet
and surpass the current and emerging needs of employers,
workers and the community.
On behalf of the Shenandoah Valley Workforce Investment
Board and the 16 localities we represent for workforce
development, we congratulate you, Dr. Thompson-Stacy and
your outstanding team on this accomplishment and the many
successes that lie ahead.
Thank you!
Good morning, almost afternoon.
My name is Deborah Taylor.
I am the human resource manager for Mercury paper in
Strasburg.
Our company started operations in April of this year.
When we started recruiting and identifying the skill set of
the folks we would need to staff our facility, I turned to
LFCC for assistance.
Jeanian, Larry Baker and I sat down to talk about the skill
assessments; the training needs the developing – determining
how LFCC would be able to assist us in building our people
through a foundation and training.
Since that time, the Workforce Solutions group has
instructed numerous workshops for our management staff and
our employees.
Through these workshops we’ve been able to build upon the
skill set of the already experienced leaders that we’ve been
able to recruit through the community.
We passed on the knowledge of our HR laws, recruiting and
interviewing skills, teamwork and HR concepts, to those
leaders that are involved in and making decisions regarding
the hiring of their staff on a day-to-day basis.
We recruited and hired 107, 127 employees to date and will
continue along this journey as we grow and expand our
operations.
We developed a culture and environment that is team centered
and employee focused.
We train our operators in hard skills and soft skills from
anywhere from four to six weeks.
At Mercury Paper we are centered and focused on the
development of our people and it’s through our people that
you become and remain successful and we will continue to
utilize the resources at LFCC, along with our pathway to
success, so that we remain successful together.
I’d like to thank Dr. Thompson-Stacy, Jeanian Clark and
their commitment to not only Mercury Paper, but also to the
businesses in the region for their ongoing support and their
interactions with our businesses on a day-to-day basis to
assist us in remaining successful as we expand.
So, congratulations on your expansion as we expand along
with you.
Thank you very much.
I’d like to start by thanking everyone for being here today
and introducing my niece, Nicole Jones, who is also here
with me today. She would have been the great granddaughter
of the Corrons.
I have many memories of my grandparents: we used to take
Christmas presents to local businesses; I’ve never seen my
grandfather without a coat and tie, and my grandmother never
rode in the front seat of a car; they always had burnt toast
for breakfast.
But, the one thing I’ll always remember is their love for
education.
This love is now carried through me.
Not only did I develop this passion, but I learned how
valuable and how it affected the community whether it was
tutoring at local schools, volunteering at events, or making
a small donation.
Every little bit helps to make a strong community.
These small gestures help shape our future leaders.
My grandparents felt it was important to give back so the
future generations had a place to share their passion for
education and begin building a strong successful community.
Although I’ll never eat burnt toast with them again, I’ll
continue to carry their love for education with me.
Because of my grandparent’s values and passions I am
pursuing a career as a teacher.
It is my hope that the Corron Community Center will provide
a place for Lord Fairfax students to learn to grow and build
their future so they can give back to the community like my
grandparents did.
Thank you.
At this time I want to introduce three other people who are
sitting up front.
We have John Vance, the Lord Fairfax Community College Board
Chairperson; Peter Heffern from Lantz Construction, who
built this beautiful building and Benjamin Keeney from Burt
Hill Architects who designed it. Thank you. I’d like to ask
everyone seated up front to join me - there’s only one pair
of scissors and I get them.
I want to make just a couple more remarks.
There’s one other person I want to introduce you to, Dr.
Marilyn Beck.
Marilyn, where are you? Marilyn back there.
I’d like to say a few words about Marilyn Beck.
Marilyn was president of Lord Fairfax Community College from
1988 to about 2003 – do I have that right Marilyn?
And this building was a gleam in her eye when she was here
and she started the first step toward achieving this great
accomplishment.
So, it might have taken 22 years, Marilyn but we’re here.
As you take tours of the building, I wanted to point out
just a couple more areas to please look at.
These areas are named after other significant donors who
made today possible.
In the main lobby we have the Marion Lewis Atrium. The
multipurpose room on the first floor is for Carl and Emily
Thompson.
The conference room on the first floor is the Henkel Harris
Conference Room.
The executive board room on the second floor is the American
Woodmark Foundation Boardroom, and the conference room on
the second floor is the BB&T Blue Ridge Region Conference
Room.
And, we thank all of those individuals and businesses for
helping to support education in our community, and now you
can get out of the hot sun.
Please go forward into the building.
There’s refreshments in the conference room and thank you
once more.