Meridian Community College Presents New Welding Center

Meridian Community College thought about opening a welding center after the economic development summit held on the campus in June of 2007. The idea has become a reality last October 31, 2014 when MCC opens its Structural Steel Welding Technology Center on its Workforce Education campus.

During the 2007 summit, then-Governor of Mississippi Haley Barbour and Alabama Governor Bob Riley said that there’s a need for more workforce education. They specifically talked about the need for more welders. Some of the administrators and educators in the summit come from East Central Community College, Meridian Community College, East Mississippi Community College, Bevill State Community College, Jones County Junior College, Shelton State Community College, and Wallace State Community.

Last October 31, Mississippi Lt. Governor Tate Reeves was present during the dedication of the Structural Steel Welding Technology Center at the MCC. School officials said that the welding center will enable the community college to increase the capacity of to train welding students.

Reeves said that when talking about education, it should not focus only on K through 12. Education should also mean training the workforce and the facility such as MCC’s welding center. He described the facility as an example of what East Mississippi and Meridian can do when people work together for a common goal.

B.B. Archer is the architect who designed the 11,500 square foot facility. It will house 30 working welding booths, office, classrooms, and an overhead crane. The crane allows students to learn about rigging. Some of the programs have to skip that lesson because they don’t have any ways to teach it. The crane will allow MCC to teach the students how to operate it. Tiny Dean of Structural Steel helped with the design of the facility and gave it a factory feel. Classes are set to start Monday.