Submitted by South Puget Sound Community College
Since opening its doors in 1995, the South Puget Sound Community College Hawks Prairie Center has served the north Thurston County population for 20 years. But now, with the fall opening of the new SPSCC Lacey Campus, Hawks Prairie Center celebrates its final quarter.
The last day for Hawks Prairie Center will be September 2. Corporate and Continuing Education classes will begin at the new Lacey Campus on September 14, while for-credit classes begin September 21. Testing services at Hawks Prairie Center will close on August 29, reopening at the Lacey campus fall quarter. Full services will be available at the Olympia campus throughout.
The Hawks Prairie Center served many vital functions for the college during its two-decade run, Dean for Corporate and Continuing Education Noel Rubadue said.
“The center did serve the community well through its Corporate and Community Education programs, as they would not have been able to grow to what they did without the space resources at Hawks,” she said. “Credit students, especially Running Start students in the North Thurston School District, could access classes that were held closer to their base schools and didn’t have to worry about hunting for parking at the peak times of the day. Hawks also had a strong night program as it was easy to leave work, pick something up to eat and get to class here at the center.”
Those functions will continue to be served by the SPSCC Olympia Campus as well as the new Lacey campus. While Rubadue said Hawks will be missed in many ways, she also looks forward to the new opportunities the Lacey campus brings.
“I think the new campus gives us the opportunity as a college to establish a more comprehensive student experience that can be different from the Olympia campus and complement it very well,” she said.
