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Lone Star College-North Harris plans Aldine center
By KEVIN KOLOIAN
Serving the community that it schools is important to Lone Star College-North Harris.
Looking to create a satellite center in Aldine, the college has been talking with local community leaders to find out what is needed in the area.
“If our communities are healthy, then our colleges will remain healthy,” said Dr. Stephen Head, president of Lone Star College-North Harris. “We envision the center to be an educational, social and cultural center of the community. We even would like to host meetings for civic groups, community groups and business groups there.”
In Aldine, the college system currently runs the Carver Center out of Carver High School, which offers early college courses. North Harris is expected to outgrow the center in about three years, Head said.
With hopes to build a 73,000- square-foot facility, the new Aldine Higher Education Center will be home to more than 3,000 students.
Courses will include everything from college preparatory classes like ones related to GED tests and teaching English as a second language to traditional academics and workforce-readiness classes.
The center will be in the Acres Homes area, a location chosen for its abundance of low-income, first generation college students, Head said.
“The students there value education and we are trying to bring education to them so they can approve theirs lives,” he added.
It will also be ideal for transfer students, which is why North Harris is seeking the involvement of other colleges like Texas Southern University, the University of Houston-Downtown and private schools.
“The community would like access to educational facilities to these schools,” Head said. “The reality is that for people in the Aldine area transportation is an issue. From a North Harris perspective we want to put our centers in the best place in the communities for our students.”
The need for a new center has been talked about over the past year. With the bond referendum that passed in May, money is available to buy land.
The plot should be closed on in early spring and the center could be up in time for a tentative fall 2010 or spring 2011 opening.
“Between our students and ones from other colleges we can see it being a 5,000-student educational complex,” Head said.
Looking to create a satellite center in Aldine, the college has been talking with local community leaders to find out what is needed in the area.
“If our communities are healthy, then our colleges will remain healthy,” said Dr. Stephen Head, president of Lone Star College-North Harris. “We envision the center to be an educational, social and cultural center of the community. We even would like to host meetings for civic groups, community groups and business groups there.”
In Aldine, the college system currently runs the Carver Center out of Carver High School, which offers early college courses. North Harris is expected to outgrow the center in about three years, Head said.
With hopes to build a 73,000- square-foot facility, the new Aldine Higher Education Center will be home to more than 3,000 students.
Courses will include everything from college preparatory classes like ones related to GED tests and teaching English as a second language to traditional academics and workforce-readiness classes.
The center will be in the Acres Homes area, a location chosen for its abundance of low-income, first generation college students, Head said.
“The students there value education and we are trying to bring education to them so they can approve theirs lives,” he added.
It will also be ideal for transfer students, which is why North Harris is seeking the involvement of other colleges like Texas Southern University, the University of Houston-Downtown and private schools.
“The community would like access to educational facilities to these schools,” Head said. “The reality is that for people in the Aldine area transportation is an issue. From a North Harris perspective we want to put our centers in the best place in the communities for our students.”
The need for a new center has been talked about over the past year. With the bond referendum that passed in May, money is available to buy land.
The plot should be closed on in early spring and the center could be up in time for a tentative fall 2010 or spring 2011 opening.
“Between our students and ones from other colleges we can see it being a 5,000-student educational complex,” Head said.
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