Lamar State College-Orange has a bright Orange future

By Dawn Burleigh

The Orange Leader

 

Keep Orange County Beautiful announced, on Monday, Lamar State College-Orange was awarded the KOCB Beautification Award for the campus.

“It’s inspiring to the community to see that the Future is Bright Orange,” Keep Orange County Beautiful President Deborah Bednar said, referencing the LSCO slogan.

LSCO President Dr. Thomas Johnson said he loved the green in the logo as well.

“Green space is important,” Johnson added.

Johnson said he appreciates the award because of the pride our campus takes in maintaining a clean and pleasant campus environment.

“I often hear from people who are visiting our campus for the first time that they had no idea our campus was so beautiful,” he said.

Sandra Hoke, a KOCB member, commented that she hopes that others in the community will follow suit to the way Lamar State College-Orange maintains the campus.

John also shared plans for the newly acquired Capital One Bank property.

“I don’t like students having to cross the street,” Johnson said. “We hope to block part of the street so students can walk safely across.”

The current building at the location is 14,600 square feet and too small to accommodate students on campus, according to Johnson.

“We want to build a 50,000 square foot building,” Johnson said. “The current Academic building was built in 1908, I believe, and our students deserve a new building.”

With the new building, which will take approximately five years, Johnson said the green space will be added to the campus and the library will become the central part of the college.

“It will increase the footprint of the college, but it will also increase the green space,” Johnson added.

He added he still needs to go to Legislation first.

“It is only a dream right now,” Johnson said.

With enrollment up, it is a needed dream for the school.

Headcount in its non-credit workforce courses is up 34-percent and contact hours are up 171-percent for Quarter IV of 2019. 

Non-credit classes include the Yamaha Small Engine Repair program, as well as training courses through Skills Development Fund grants and other community education courses, according to a press release.

Fall credit enrollment numbers resulted in a headcount of 2,395, which is up 2-percent. This in the highest enrollment for a Fall semester in six years at LSCO. 

Contact hours and semester credit hours are also up by 2.1-percent and 4.7-percent respectively in comparison to last Fall.

Academic student enrollment is up by 9.5-percent and Technical student enrollment is up 4.1-percent compared to last year.

Enrollment in day classes is up 12.5-percent, night class enrollment is up 14.2-percent, and Friday-only class enrollment is up 14.7-percent when compared to Fall 2018. 

Additionally, three Saturday-only classes are being offered for the first time.