Trident Tech Opens in Mount Pleasant

Today is the first day of class for the Mount Pleasant campus of Trident Technical College, and officials say enrollment is surpassing expectations.

The college had to add seats to classrooms just to meet demand, and there are already plans to move forward with a second phase of the campus, which will add class seats and course offerings.

Trident Tech is offering roughly 20 classes during this first semester. So far, the campus has been popular with a cross-section of the community, but particularly so with college freshmen.

“We have a staff of advisors just for transfer students,” said Mike Patterson, dean of the Mount Pleasant campus. “That helps a lot for students who just want to come here for a year or two and then transfer.”

The advisers specialize in which classes are best for the state’s most popular schools, Patterson said. That means students don’t waste time or money on classes that won’t benefit them at their four-year school.

Trident Tech officially began work on the Mount Pleasant campus in February. The Town of Mount Pleasant leased the building, at the corner of U.S. Hwy. 17 and Hungryneck Boulevard, for just $1 a year. The college invested $500,000 into renovation costs.

The campus fulfills a vision on the part of town leaders, who wanted a college in Mount Pleasant. Trident Tech wanted to establish a campus east of the Cooper River that could serve Mount Pleasant and outlying areas.

“This is a direct result of Mayor Billy Swails’s and the council’s vision,” Patterson said. “It’s possible because of the leadership by President Mary Thornley and dedicated work by the vice presidents and the staff here.”

The Mount Pleasant campus currently houses two lecture classrooms, a computer lab and a learning center, which essentially is a classroom outfitted with computers. A second phase will more than double the classroom space and allow the campus to offer more classes and certificates, Patterson said.

The Mount Pleasant campus is being run on a small staff. Just Patterson and two other college employees run the facility. D’Jaris Whipper-Lewis and Elinor Hamblin handle all the questions students might have, from enrollment and advising to financial aid and testing.

“We are seeing students who are recent high school graduates as well as retirees and others,” Whipper-Lewis said. “We’re a close option for a lot of people.”

With many families focused on budgets, a nearby two-year school makes sense, she said.

“And we’re closer to a lot of the outlying areas like McClellanville and Georgetown,” said Hamblin.

In addition to classes such as English, math and psychology, the Mount Pleasant campus offers remedial courses – or so-called learning support classes – for students who need a refresher to build their skills before taking college-level courses.

The Mount Pleasant campus also offers three certificate programs: information systems, CAD I design and graphic arts.

The Mount Pleasant site is considered Trident’s fourth campus. Enrollment at the technical college grew to 15,790 in fall 2010. The two-year, public technical college is ranked as the second largest institution of higher learning in South Carolina, based on undergraduate enrollment.