Hyde County Davis Center Brings Services Locally | Eastern NC Now

Press Release:

    Engelhard, NC     The Hyde County Davis Center has been bustling with activity since it first opened to classes in September 2016. The center has hired Georgia Ballance as a coordinator and has hosted classes from across the Continuing Education spectrum. The Hyde County Davis Center is a partnership between Beaufort County Community College and Hyde County to create a permanent physical presence in the county, which is served by BCCC.

    So far the center has hosted a CPR class, a Microsoft Excel seminar for small businesses and a Windows 7 class. The CPR class has helped employees from the Tyrrell County Senior Citizen Center to receive training locally. Last month, high school equivalency classes started at the center. Class participation rates have been comparable to that of classes on the main campus in Washington.

    Georgia Ballance was hired in January as a workforce and continuing education coordinator. Ballance is a native of Hyde County. She has met with people focused on economic development, education and from the Chamber of Commerce.

    "Our goal through this part-time position is to see Ms. Balance spend 100% of her time networking with the people and businesses in Hyde County," said Stacey Gerard, vice president of continuing education at BCCC. "Our college wants to meet the education and workforce training needs of Hyde County."

    High school equivalency classes take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:00-9:00 p.m. These classes are ongoing, so students can still sign up. They are also now available online.


    Other upcoming classes include an Android workshop, an IPhone/IPad workshop, and a slate of small business seminars, including Quick Books 101, Understanding the Income and Balance Sheet, and Facebook Basics for Your Small Business.

    This summer the center hopes to host summer enrichment programs for K-12 students, previously called College for Kids. The youth programs have taken place on the main campus of BCCC in the past, but now the college hopes to offer some of the programs at the Davis Center.

    The Davis Center offers seated classes that until now have only been available to students at the main campus in Washington or the Washington County Center in Roper. Hyde County, along with Tyrrell, Washington and Beaufort Counties, is served by BCCC. At 2,008 square miles, BCCC has the largest service area of any community college in North Carolina. BCCC already provides online and hybrid classes to Hyde County residents and broadcasts classes to Mattamuskeet School and Ocracoke School. The college also provides vocational training and high school equivalency classes at the Hyde Correctional Institute.

    The college has also increased its services outside of the Davis Center. It has conducted monthly trainings for the Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department from October through March. It also plans to host EMT classes on Ocracoke and at the Davis Center using the college's ambulance simulator.

    The college has focused on expanding its services outside of its main campus near Washington, including opening the Washington County Center in Roper. The opening of the Davis Center builds on BCCC's commitment to provide high quality, postsecondary educational opportunities to residents across its service area.

• Contact: Stacey Gerard
•     252-940- 6241