Fayetteville Technical Community College celebrated the completion of Phase I of its new Nursing Education and Simulation Center with a ribbon-cutting on Dec. 15. 

Phase I includes 32 hospital beds in spacious simulation labs as well as study rooms and meeting spaces, all on the first floor, and classrooms located on the second floor of the building. The space was created through a $2 million renovation of the College’s former childcare center at 2340 Hull Road. 

FTCC’s Associate Degree Nursing  and Practical Nursing programs will begin operating out of the new center in January. Until now, those programs have had to share space with 16 Allied Health programs in FTCC’s Health Technologies Center. 

The new Nursing Education and Simulation Center also provides space for possible expansion of FTCC’s nursing program. The College will have 269 students in its ADN program in January, near its currently permitted maximum of 280. In response to significant regional need and demand, FTCC hopes to expand that capacity to 400. 

Funding for the $2 million renovation came from a variety of philanthropic sources, including $961,300 from the Golden LEAF Foundation and $250,000 from Cumberland Community Foundation. Mary Holmes, CCF’s president and CEO, said she was so impressed by the facility when she came to tour it that she decided to make a personal gift as well. 

Funding for the project also came from the State Capital and Infrastructure Fund.  

Sandy Ammons, executive director of FTCC Foundation, said the project would not have been possible without this philanthropic support.

Eleven people helped cut the ribbon to open the new center. N.C. Rep. Diane Wheatley, a registered nurse who earned her Associate Degree in Nursing at FTCC in the 1970s, held the scissors. 

“We’re so happy for this facility,” Wheatley said in a press release. “What a great opportunity it will be for all the students it serves.” 

Phase II of the project will consist of an annex that is to be built next door, with offices and meeting rooms.