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Closure of the Houston Northwest Community College campus

The Northwest Community College (NWCC) campus in Houston was a hub that welcomed everyone and facilitated all sorts of programs that brought residents together.

The Northwest Community College (NWCC) campus in Houston was a hub that welcomed everyone and facilitated all sorts of programs that brought residents together.

From trade programs to college equivalent courses, the Houston NWCC provided a space for residents to improve their skills and knowlege.

It facilitated events like the English as a Second Language pot luck gatherings, and provided compassionate and determined tutors to spend one on one time with you to help complete a course or a project you were struggling in.

The Houston NWCC was always an active place with conferences that brought mental health awareness into the community, and a place to pack the produce of the Good Food Box program.

Though operation costs of the building are $75,000 per year, according to Justin Kohlman, vice president of education, students &international for the NWCC. (This does not include staff wages.) I do hope that an organization will find the building of interest and feasible to use.

What made the NWCC the great education centre that it was, was by far its staff.All of the instructors, counsellors, and welcoming receptionists will be sorely missed.

Support is key to any success, especially in education. No matter who you talked to at the college, you were thoroughly helped and your needs addressed.And especially in small communities, where lack of encouragement is death to the isolated, support like that is priceless.

A loss like the college means one less accessible, in-person, support that communities like Houston need.

Instructors like Sandi Lavallie made people feel like they were a part of her family. And with her range of skills, she knew exactly how to explain any assignment to you in a way that you would understand.

It is hard to build a relationship with someone that only knows you through the education service you are trying to access. In person support, especially that of what was received at the Houston NWCC campus, was not artificial. It was a deep investment into every indvidual’s well-being and the good wishes of seeing each person meet their goals.

That is the staff ot he Houston NWCC campus provided.

On behalf of Houston Today, to all the staff at the Houston NWCC, thank you for your service.