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Attala Center holds ribbon-cutting, open house for new facility Holmes Community College held a ribbon-cutting and open house for The Attala Center on Thursday, Nov. 19. Located on West Jefferson Street in Kosciusko, the new facility is replacing the former Holmes Attala Educational Center on Highway 12 near Baptist Medical Center-Attala.
The event was well-attended by Holmes representatives, Attala County Board of Supervisors, elected county officials, Kosciusko Mayor Jimmy Cockroft, Kosciusko Board of Alderman, as well as other VIPs, including Representative Jason White, Chris Richardson, a field representative from United States Sen. Thad Cochran's office, Steve Russell, executive director of the North Central Planning and Development District, Randall Lewis and his team from JH&H Architects, Paul Jackson and Son contractors, and others.
Nancy McRight, director of The Attala Center, expressed her sincere gratitude for everyone that had a part in making the dream of opening a new center a reality, and thanked all those who came to celebrate the joyous occasion.
The 70,000 square feet facility will offer academic and workforce training courses, as well as community workshops. A number of workshops/courses have already begun, but other new offerings are slated to start in January.
"We have only been moved in for a couple of weeks now, but this place is remarkable," McRight said. "This new center is going to provide limitless opportunities for our community."
Most notably for her role directing The Attala Center, McRight was recently named as one of the Women of Attala 2015 by The Star-Herald. She has also been named Director of the Year in Adult Education in Mississippi three times. McRight has been a member of the Holmes family since 2002, and while she has only resided in Kosciusko for the past few years, she says it feels like home to her.
After McRight spoke, President of Holmes Dr. Jim Haffey expressed his excitement about opening the doors to the new Attala Center.
"Today is a special day for Holmes," Dr. Haffey said. "Lives will be changed from this place. Our college is currently celebrating our 90th birthday, and reaching many milestones as we celebrate. One of those is the opening of this new, state-of-the-art facility, which has been a long time coming. Holmes has expanded so much, from the days of the agricultural high school that my grandmother graduated from to one of the largest community colleges in the state. Over 150,000 Mississippians have bettered their lives at Holmes, and I know Holmes has been life-changing for many of us here today. A special thanks also to "Dub" Shoemaker; thank you for being a cheerleader for Holmes, along with all of you here today."
Following the address and ribbon-cutting, guests enjoyed an open house with tours of the facility and refreshments.
Some of the community courses The Attala Center is currently offering include Basic Photography, Conversational Spanish, Customer Service Training, a "Know Your Cell Phone" training course, a "Don't Let Your Smartphone Be Smarter than You" course, and 10 Exceptional Team Leadership workshops.
Upcoming workshops include "Preparing Yourself For Team Leadership Success," Nov. 19; "Lead Others? First Lead Yourself," Dec. 3; "Goal Setting For Success," Jan. 14; "Making the Most of Your Time," Jan. 28; "Motivation and Confidence," Feb. 11; "Building A Successful Team, Feb. 25; "Creating and Sustaining Top Performance," March 24; "Employee Evaluation And Discipline," April 7, and "Making Decisions and Solving Problems," April 21.
Academic courses including Nutrition, Word Processing I, English Composition II, American History II, Human Growth and Development, and College Algebra will be offered in the spring of 2016. Truck driving and workforce welding classes will also begin in the spring.
For more information about The Attala Center, contact McRight at (662) 290-0808 or nmcright@holmescc.edu.
