County Supervisors Tour EMCC’s New CMTE Building

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)- If you travel Highway 82 between Columbus and Starkville, you can’t help but notice a futuristic-looking building under construction.

It’s a high-tech look with a high tech purpose.

With the demand for workforce training growing, EMCC is helping their students get ahead of the game by creating a facility dedicated to technology and manufacturing.

“I think this is the best investment we can make, investing into our people,” said Orlando Trainer.

The nearly 42 million dollar building is expected to be a place for students to grow and become prepared for the manufacturing and technology jobs of the future.

Dr. Raj Shaunak has been a force in creating this facility.

“With tremendous economic growth in the Golden Triangle, it was envisioned by some astute leaders the need for having a facility that will be world-class. Training people for the jobs of the future. It’s hope for the young peoples to see that they have career opportunities that sustainable as far as income is concerned that there is no reason to be leaving this part of Mississippi and they can have a bright future because the bright future of the young people is the bright future for our region,” said Dr. Shaunak.

Supervisors from participating counties were excited to see the progress on the project they helped get rolling.

“Anytime you have different boards, from different mindsets, from different backgrounds, different needs, different constituencies it’s always interesting trying to get everybody together, but I think EMCC’s administration did a great job explaining and expounding it to us,” said Trainer.

Construction began in 2016, and so far there haven’t been any major hiccups.

“Construction has went really well West Brothers construction has done a fabulous job at putting this together have a had any problems really so to speak of everything is moving just along as planned,” said Mike Taylor.

Dr. Shaunak says it takes a diverse team to make something like this happen.

“You need people who dream than others who execute and then others who take advantage of the dreams and the plans and the execution that is laid forward,” Dr. Shaunak.

The CMTE 2.0 is expected to be completed in March with students beginning class in the fall of 2019.