Page 16 - BusinessWest August 7, 2023

Strong Foundation
STCC’s Architecture and Building Technology Program Turns 10
Warren Hall calls April 23, 2013 — the day the Massachu- setts Board of Higher Education approved architecture and building technology as a two-year associate-degree pro- gram at Springfield Technical Community College — “a great day.”
“We were approved after a seven-year process,” said Hall, a pro- fessor in the program at STCC. “Creating programs is something I love to do. I like to figure it out and find out how to get people through the door.”
As of commencement this past May, the degree program boasts more than 200 graduates who hail from the Greater Springfield region and beyond. Students enroll in the program — the only one of its kind in Western Mass. — to acquire skills that prepare them for careers in architectural design and construction-related fields. Some students can start their careers after graduating from STCC, while many transfer to four-year colleges and universities.
STCC has agreements with UMass Amherst and other state col- leges and universities that provide for a smooth transition into a bachelor’s degree program.
The program drew interest from Nathalia Hermida, who was liv- ing in Colombia in 2013 and considering colleges in the U.S.
“I always wanted to go for architecture,” she said. “I started look- ing for universities with my mom. She found out about a program at UMass Amherst, but the cost was too high for us, especially com- ing from Colombia. So, lucky for us, we found out that STCC had
a program that would transfer into UMass’s architecture program. We looked into that. As a community college, it seemed like a really good program and was more affordable for us, so we decided to go with it.”
She earned her degree from STCC in 2016 before transferring
Professors Warren Hall and Jennifer DeForge of the Architecture and Building Technology program at STCC.
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