Officials from throughout the Martinsville-Henry County region braved the Thursday morning cold to help mark the formal opening of Patrick & Henry Community College’s new section geared toward engineering, technology and manufacturing.
Known as the Manufacturing Engineering Technology 2 complex, or MET 2, the 22,000-square-foot addition is nestled between the original MET 1 and across from the Patriot Centre Industrial Park. MET 2’s grand opening comes six years after the 2017 opening of MET 1.
Like its predecessor, MET 2’s proximity to one of Martinsville’s major industrial parks is no accident. Both MET 1 and MET 2 were designed to provide students with degrees for jobs that are in demand at the local, state and national levels.
“We at P&HCC call it the ‘job degree,’” said college President Greg Hodges. “MET 1 is dedicated to the career and technical education pathways, such as mechatronics, robotics, industrial maintenance, industrial engineering and electronics, and the Racing College of Virginia. Today we add an additional 22,000 square feet of space.”
The facility includes several welding stations, a robotic welding room and a virtual welding room, among other facilities. Hodges said it was designed to teach the latest in manufacturing technology.
“It provides students with skills and competencies they need to acquire good paying and high demand jobs,” Hodges said.
There are around 200 students enrolled at MET 2, out of 3,154 students currently enrolled at the college.
Local and school officials alike are calling it a victory for the effort to connect residents to the kind of jobs that require specialized labor. Enrolled students have the chance to learn skills that include welding and engine repair.
“Every square foot will be dedicated to good paying jobs here in our community,” Hodges said.
Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corporation CEO Mark Heath said the jobs aspect of the project is particularly important.
“In today’s economic development world, competition is greater than ever,” Heath said. “Communities are investing in sites, buildings, housing and all manner of placemaking to make themselves stand out in a very crowded field. Workforce development has always been a key component to any community’s economic development plan.”
The MET 2 facility cost almost $6 million, according to Hodges. College officials received funding from a number of sources that covered a significant chunk of the costs.
“MET 2 is opening today because our partners made sure that the vision became a reality,” Hodges said, specifying that the project received $458,000 from the federal Public Works Program of the Economic Development Administration, $824,000 from the state Tobacco Commission and $3.45 million from the Harvest Foundation, with an additional $1.1 million from Patrick & Henry Community College Board.
[Disclosure: The Harvest Foundation is one of our donors, but donors have no say in news decisions; see our policy.]
Speaking on behalf of the Harvest Foundation was Senior Program Officer F. DeWitt House, who said the facility is another asset to the Martinsville and Henry County community.
“This is what we look at as one investment in a series of great investments in this community,” House said. “The folks here at the Patrick & Henry Community College are moving the workforce forward.”
