N.C. Department of Transportation Secretary Daniel Johnson (middle, second row) joined officials for Tuesday's ribbon cutting to celebrate the opening of the Lenoir Community College Senator Jim Perry Aviation Center for Excellence.
KINSTON – The
North Carolina Global TransPark is the official home to a new academy for Lenoir Community College students seeking careers in aviation.
Officials held a ribbon-cutting event Tuesday to mark the grand opening of Lenoir Community College’s Senator Jim Perry Aviation Center for Excellence.
Governor Josh Stein, who offered recorded remarks by video, said the center supports his priorities of improving local economies and advancing workforce development.
“This new education and training center represents a launching pad for the next generation of North Carolina’s workforce,” said Governor Josh Stein. “From this center, students will gain the high-tech skills they need to land rewarding aviation careers in the sky and on the ground. North Carolina is not just first in flight. We’re the future of flight. And we need a well-trained workforce to keep us soaring.”
Tuesday’s event was held inside the center’s hangar at the N.C. Global TransPark, the multimodal industrial park and airport complex in Kinston that is owned and operated by the N.C. Department of Transportation.
“There is no better place for this Aviation Center for Excellence than right here at the North Carolina Global TransPark,” said NCDOT Secretary Daniel Johnson. “The Global TransPark was created to drive economic growth, innovation and opportunity for the surrounding communities, and this center will do just that.”
The center offers a variety of courses – such as aviation management and aviation maintenance, repair, and overhaul – along with other coursework that will prepare students to be pilots, entry-level airline mechanics, and precision machinists. The center also includes an Aviation Academy geared toward high school juniors and seniors with an interest in aviation careers.
The development of the Aviation Center involved a partnership between Lenoir Community College, Lenoir County, and the Global TransPark and its aviation tenants.
Some of the center’s coursework has been customized so students will have the skills and training for jobs with aviation companies at the TransPark – including Airbus and the U.S. Navy’s Fleet Readiness Center East aircraft, maintenance, repair and overhaul facility.
“This center represents the best kind of collaboration – one where everyone leans in, focuses on the long-term benefits, and commits to doing what’s best for the community,” said Tom Hendrickson, chairman of the Global TransPark Authority’s Board of Directors.