What's in a name? Plenty at the ATC
Issue date: 8/22/07 Section: Orientation
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Media Credit David Morris
The Advanced Technology Center, a branch DBCC campus located on Williamson Boulevard, hosts many hands-on programs in a wide variety of fields of technology, along with courses for accelerated high school students.
DBCC is putting a new face on the ATC, the modern, high-tech education and training facility off Williamson Boulevard that for more than six years has welcomed some of the area's best and brightest learners.
Gone is the Advanced Technology Center. Officials have changed the name to Advanced Technology College to reflect the core mission of the facility and its program offerings.
"We wanted the name to more appropriately mirror the bread and butter of the facility," said Rand Spiwak, executive vice president of Daytona Beach Community College, which operates the ATC under a partnership with Volusia and Flagler County schools and the local business community.
The facility offers area high school students dual enrollment at the ATC and free college credits at the same time they are finishing their high school diplomas. Most students get up to a year of college credits by the time they complete high school, although many have earned two-year associate degrees in that time.
Michelle McCraney, Executive Director of the ATC, said so many college-level courses are being taught at the facility and that was the reason for the name change.
"We've found a perception in the community that the ATC is a technical school for high school kids," she said. "The reality is that college credit courses outnumber high school level courses by five to one or more."
Far more adult students attend the ATC than high school students, as well. Currently, about 800 adult students over 18 years old attend the ATC.
High school age students number about 250. Technology at the college is integrated across the curricula, beginning at the high school level.
College degree and certificate program content, though overseen by DBCC, is driven by the jobs skills sought by the business community, which is represented by industry-specific advisory boards that review and update program and course content annually.
Spiwak said the name change is part of the natural evolution of the facility as it grows and matures.
"Originally, this facility targeted primarily high school age students seeking to get a head start on their college education," he said. "But we're finding that adults also have discovered that the ATC is a great place to learn a new career through college-level training.
They know they're in college. The high school students who attend the ATC know they're in college, and we want the community at large to have no misconceptions. The ATC is a college - the Advanced Technology College."
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