Woodbridge NOVA Campus Breaks Ground for New Addition

It was perfect spring weather for the groundbreaking ceremony Friday morning for the Phase III academic building at Northern Virginia Community College's Woodbridge campus.

Dr. Sam Hill, Provost of the NOVA Woodbridge campus, thanked the crowd, the Prince William County members of the General Assembly and the local legislators for their continued support in the school and cited the college's growth as a sign of the times. 

"The recent census confirmed Prince William County as the fastest growing county in the past ten years," said Hill. "For this reason, our growth and the growth of the Manassas campus is to be expected. This spring, the Woodbridge campus is serving approximately 10,000 students."

Hill said that the Woodbridge campus is larger than 16 of the 23 colleges in the Virginia community college system. 

The Woodbridge campus' Phase III was originally planned to be built in the 80s and now 25 years later the school will be getting a large upgrade to the Seefeldt building. 

The 83,915 square-feet space will be an extension to the Seefelt Building but will house eight computer-based labs, a black box theater with 215 seats, a lecture hall that will seat 160, two art studios, an art gallery, a computer graphic design studio, three science labs, one Cisco computer laboratory, 11 classrooms, two computer lounges, a photo studio equipped with a dark room, 35 faculty offices and 12 group study rooms.

Adding to its amenities, the new building will have a geothermal heating and cooling system and a LEED silver certification. There will be a new cafeteria and an outdoor patio, something the student body president Julie Combs said she was looking forward to the most. 

The Phase III building is expected to open August 2012.

Northern Virginia Community College is the largest institution of higher education in the Commonwealth of Virginia and one of America's largest community colleges. NOVA enrolls more than 70,000 students at its six campuses in Alexandria, Annandale, Loudoun, Manassas, Springfield and Woodbridge, and through the Extended Learning Institute.