St. Charles Community College will observe its 30th anniversary on April 1, 2016. To celebrate, SCC will host a birthday bash from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday, April 4, in Scooter's Place in the Student Center.
Students, faculty, staff and visitors are encouraged to stop by Scooter's (and SCC's) Birthday Bash to sign a giant birthday card for Scooter, the official SCC mascot, and enjoy free cake, fun games, a photo booth and giveaways.
Voters approved the formation of the St. Charles Community College district during the April 1, 1986, election, and SCC held its first classes in June 1987 with about 400 students.
By the fall 1987 semester, 1,547 students were enrolled in credit classes, and other non-credit, continuing education programs were taking shape. The college operated out of several temporary locations for five years while continuing to plan for a permanent campus. Enrollment grew rapidly as the college developed educational programs and services in answer to community needs.
In February 1989, the SCC Board of Trustees chose a 135-acre tract that was estimated to be located directly in the county's center of population growth for the year 2000. The site on Mid Rivers Mall Drive had easy access to major interstate highways, and its location positioned the college to be close to home for thousands of area residents.
Ground breaking for the first phase of building construction took place on June 6, 1990. The new four-building campus was officially dedicated in a public ceremony on Jan. 26, 1992.
Since that time, SCC's campus has been through three additional construction phases, with the most recent buildings opening in August 2006.
Today, SCC serves more than 10,000 credit students and has another 54,000 non-credit enrollments annually - a large segment of the county's population. Approximately one out of every five St. Charles County high school graduates attend SCC.
The 30th anniversary celebration will continue through June 2017.
For more information, additional campus photos or historic photos, contact Brynne Cramer, SCC public relations coordinator at bcramer@stchas.edu. For more SCC facts, visit the college's Fast Facts webpage.