WCC Fundraising Campaign

It has begun.  The community phase of the $2.158 million needed for the Automotive Technology Complex at Wilkes Community College. The quiet phase of the campaign, now complete, yielded pledges and donations totaling $590,608 which is 84.37 percent of the $700,000 community campaign goal.  “The college now needs your help,” says Allison Phillips, executive director of the WCC Endowment Corporation.  Plans to construct an Automotive Technology Complex began in 2010 and will comprise two buildings: a 10,920-square-foot Automotive Systems Technology Center and a 5,000-square-foot Collision Repair Center.  The Automotive Systems Technology Center will be a one-story open/flexible state-of-the art facility with functional and flexible shop/lab spaces.  Graduates of the WCC automotive programs have enjoyed success in the workforce including the seven local automotive dealerships:  2,000+ automotive technicians have graduated with the two-year degree since 1969, 75 percent of the automotive technicians employed by locally are graduates of WCC, and 7 graduates of the program are teaching in the N.C. Community College System’s automotive programs.  Increasing enrollments caused need for an expanded facility. In addition, the one-year diploma Autobody Repair program will become the Collision Repair and Refinishing Technology program, a two-year associate degree program, in fall 2012.  Space vacated by these two programs will allow for the expansion of both the Heavy Equipment & Transport Technology and Building Construction Technology programs.  “The beauty of this capital campaign is that four of our fastest growing programs will benefit from either new or improved instructional space,” says Dr. Gordon Burns, president of Wilkes Community College.  Pledges may be made over the course of three years to the WCC Endowment Corporation, P.O. Box 120, Wilkesboro, N.C. 28697 or donate online at www.wilkescc.edu/giving. For more information, contact Allison Phillips at the WCC Endowment Corporation at 336-838-6491.