HURRICANE, Washington County — Enrollment at Utah's newest four-year state college increased by 10.6 percent this year over the previous year, Dixie State College officials said Wednesday.
And more than 400 of the 6,347 students signing up for classes this fall will be taught at a fairly new location — the Dixie State College Alan Joseph Stout Hurricane Education Center.
"When I first came to Dixie College we were perceived as a St. George college," said Dixie State College President Robert C. Huddleston. "But we're a community college, and we've tried really hard to change that image."
Plans to double the size of the DSC Hurricane Center were announced last week with a public groundbreaking ceremony held Wednesday at the eight-acre site, 112 S. 700 West.
"Right now this facility is called an educational facility, but I promise this will become a Dixie State College campus," Huddleston told a room full of local dignitaries and supporters. The college president also predicted satellite campuses would eventually be constructed in other Washington County cities.
"Hurricane is the second largest community in Washington County," Huddleston said. "I'm convinced this Hurricane Education Center will continue to grow."
Census data indicate Hurricane grew by 110 percent in the past 10 years, from 3,915 in 1990 to 8,250 residents in 2000, far above the predicted number of 6,971, he added
Since the dedication of the 6,005-square-foot center in September 2000, enrollment there also has significantly increased from 242 students then to 420 students now, college officials said. Half of those students are in the traditional 18-21 age bracket while the other half are considered re-entry students.
In 1995, the college offered three courses based in Hurricane. Today nearly 35 courses are taught at the new center.
"We are so excited to get started on the second phase of this campus," said Jonna P. Stout, wife of the late Boyd Stout and benefactor of the new addition. "It's exciting to see each phase of its growth. My husband believed in doing things anonymously, but this is a great legacy to leave to our children and our community."
Boyd Stout was a self-educated man, a banker and a certified public accountant without the "certified" in front of his name, Jonna Stout said.
"He believed in education and education translates into money," she told the audience.
The college will continue to borrow classroom space from Hurricane High School, Huddleston said, although it won't need as much once construction is completed on the 4,600-square-foot expansion.
"Education is power; power in the right way. It gives people abilities way beyond what they can imagine," he said.
The center serves not only students from cities in eastern Washington County but also many from Kanab in Kane County; Mesquite, Nev.; and from towns to the northwest of St. George.
E-mail: nperkins@redrock.net