For a number of years, improving and expanding the East Mississippi Community College residence halls in Scooba has been a top priority. If EMCC President Dr. Thomas Huebner gets his wish, more on-campus housing will soon become reality.
“In many ways, we’re limited by the number of students we can house and our growth is limited by the number of students we can house,” Huebner said. “Residence halls are a big priority for us. Not only do we need to think about replacing some of the beds we have, but we need to think about how we can add beds.”
With almost 4,000 students district-wide, EMCC can accommodate 584 residential students in Scooba. Demand for campus housing has exceeded capacity for a number of years. Last year, the residence halls on the Scooba campus were booked by April for the term that began in August.
“From April to August we had more than 100 people at one time on a waiting list,” EMCC Dean of Student Affairs Tony Montgomery said.
Increase in demand
EMCC draws students from throughout the state and region, including its six-county district of Lauderdale, Kemper, Noxubee, Lowndes, Oktibbeha and Clay.
One reason for the uptick in demand for more on-campus housing is the fact that some prospective students prefer not to commute. Another factor is that many students like the convenience of living on campus and access to after-hour activities.
Built in 1948, Noxubee and Lauderdale halls are the two oldest residence halls on campus and accommodate a combined 140 students. EMCC has entertained a variety of plans in recent years to demolish the two aging residence halls and not only replace those 140 beds, but also create additional space.
A 180-bed facility was being discussed when Huebner arrived in July 2015. Huebner would like to expand on those plans with a new initiative to add 200 beds, a wish which largely depends on the availability of funding.
Huebner said the school is already looking at financing options for new residence halls.
“And we’ll begin the process of designing very soon,” he said. “The kind of exciting part, that we haven’t made a decision about yet, is what those facilities will look like. We know there will be at least two facilities to make up those 200 beds, but it may be more than that.
One long-term need is permanent housing to replace some of the Hurricane Katrina-style cottages currently being used on campus. When an EF-2 tornado struck the west side of the Scooba campus Feb. 2, a number of cottages in the “athletes’ village” where baseball, rodeo and basketball players live, suffered damage.
“I think the tornado absolutely served as a reminder that we need a long-term plan for growth in the number of residence halls and the number of student beds,” Huebner said. “The cottage concept is certainly very popular with our students and seems to be a wonderful recruiting tool. But we know those facilities are not permanent solutions.”
Strong interest in campus living
The idea of living in a private cottage on the small cul-de-sac adjacent to EMCC’s Gerald Poole Field has proved enticing for prospective student-athletes — just as a number of recent developments on the Scooba campus have stoked interest among students considering living on campus.
The state-of-the-art F.R. Young Student Union was completed in 2012 and came with a number of amenities. An NJCAA national junior-college football championship in 2011 was followed by two more in 2013 and 2014, and the school’s marching band has quadrupled in size in the past six years.
“Certainly, the success of our athletic programs and our marching band, for example, have created a strong interest in living on our Scooba campus,” Huebner said. “That interest, with the addition of the new student union in the last few years, has gone a long way in creating a positive student atmosphere.”
“I think living in the residence halls is a huge benefit for the students just for their social life,” Montgomery said. “They have to learn to adapt. You might want to go to bed at 10 and your roommates want to go to bed at midnight. They get up at 10 and you get up at 6. You have to learn to adjust. You compromise and be a good teammate. It helps you down the road to be a good co-worker.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.