Rotary restarts in-person programs

LAURINBURG — After an eight-month pause because of restrictions from COVID-19, the Rotary Club returned to in-person meetings on Tuesday with a program by Devon Hall, who is the dean of applied sciences and engineering at Richmond Community College.

“Richmond Community College and its programs are one of the very best and most affordable in the state,” he said. “We should all be very proud of that.”

Hall went on to talk about some of those programs, as well as the continued evolution of the college’s campus in Scotland County.

“Initially, and for decades after, RCC in Scotland County only offered GED-type programs,” he said. “But now that we have the Honeycutt Center, there has been expansion of programs.”

One of those is the AC program that offers a two-year degree.

“It’s a pretty successful program, and several of our graduates are out there working locally,” Hall said.

He paused for a moment to talk about the way people think about learning the trades.

“It used to be that only men took these course,” Hall said. “But we want to break that thinking — there should be no gender bias.”

The same goes for the college’s LPN program, which is approved by the state for 20 students.

“Most of our students are female, but there is a great need everywhere for male nurses,” Hall said.

Another program he spoke about was the industrial mechanics program.

“We now have a short-term training program to teach the skills needed,” he explained. “And with those skills, our students are looking at a starting salary of $16 to $18 per hour.”

And there are discounts.

Hall said that, because of federal COVID dollars being made available to all 58 North Carolina community colleges — and RCC received about $1 million — many of the college’s non-credit programs are discounted dramatically.

“It’s a significant discount, but it’s for a limited time only,” he added.

Hall also touted the college’s Early College program as “one of the best in North Carolina.”

But if there was a down side to Hall’s talk, it was the fact that the Honeycutt Center was running out of space.

“We want to add courses here, but there is no-place to house them yet,” he said.

One of Hall’s biggest positives surrounded a class that won’t start until September.

RCC will begin a 15-week cyber security program that will cost students just $99 to take.

“We believe there are a lot of businesses that have a need for this skill set,” Hall said. “We also recognize that all organizations are under attack.”

He said RCC itself was recently cyberattacked, and that “we all know Colonial Pipeline was attacked, which affected us all.”

“More than likely, all of us are vulnerable to attacks,” Hall added. “Those who complete the course will have the skills to protect their company’s network; this is a need that won’t go away.”

W. Curt Vincent can be reached at 910-506-3023 or [email protected].