We’ve had a tremendous start to the new year here at Tallahassee Community College! Coming back from break in January, we hit the ground running with several big announcements including Gadsden Connect, a new pilot program in partnership with Sunshine Health to provide 60 full tuition scholarships to students in Gadsden in two in-demand healthcare fields – Nursing Assistant and Home Health Aide. We also unveiled our 20^th Annual Cherry Hall Alexander African-American History Calendar which featured thirteen extraordinary individuals who have made significant contributions to our community.

Of particular note, however, was our launch of the TCC-Flagler College “2+2 for Education” targeted articulation agreement, which will help address the critical shortage of teachers in our region and across the state.

TCC has had a great relationship with Flagler for twenty years. The Tallahassee campus of Flagler College opened its doors at TCC in August 2000, offering bachelor degrees in Elementary Education and Business Administration. Nearly 90% of Flagler College-Tallahassee students get their start at TCC each year. Since 2000, more than 900 students have graduated from TCC and went on to receive their teaching credentials from Flagler-Tallahassee. Of those graduates, more than 60 have now earned the distinction of “Teacher-of-the-Year” within their school districts, which speaks to the tremendous quality of our programs.

This agreement strengthens and streamlines that pathway so that many more students can achieve their dream of becoming an elementary teacher, and do so affordably right here on our campus. It is also the first of its kind – the only public-private partnership in Florida to develop a targeted articulation agreement for elementary education – and I’m excited to see where it will take us.

For more information, read the full release here.