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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBlinn-125yrs1Blinn commemorates 125 years HAPPY BlRTHDAY~I ~^ BLINN COLLEGE ~, l 25 YEARS Eagle photos/Stuart Villanueva Above: Blinn freshman Krlstl Gray, one of 14,000 students, Blinn students Megan Pulley (left) and Amanda Lindner walks under a school banner Wednesday. Bottom right: study for a biology class at the Blinn library. Blinn timeline March 28, 1883 - Opened in Brenham as Mis- sion Institute, part of the Southern German Conference of the Methodist denomina- tion. 1889 -Name changed to Blinn Memorial College in honor of the Reverend Christ- ian Blinn of New York, a major donor. 1927 -Organized as a junior college. 1930 -Merged with Southwestern University of Georgetown. 1934 -Anew charter acquired by the residents of Brenham transformed Blinn into a private, nonsectarian junior college under the name Blinn College. 1937 - An election held in Washington County created a public junior college district, making Blinn the first county- owned junior college district in Texas. 1970 -Blinn began offering night classes at Allen Academy in Bryan and A&M Consolidated High School in College Station. See BLINN, Page A8 Small school of 400 students evolved into a .thriving network By HOLLY HUFFMAN Eagle Stajf Writer When Joe Al Picone attended Blinn College near- ly 50 years ago, the Brenham campus had just one class- room building, a gym and three dorms -two for men and one for women. That was in 1960. There was no Bryan campus, nor were there branches in Schulenburg or Sealy. At home in Washington Coun- ty, Blinn enrolled just 400 or so students, Picone estimat- ed. "That was the campus," said Picone, now 66 and B~day From A i lege, including 17 years as dean of business services and another 18 years as a member of the Blinn College Board of Trustees. - A Buccaneer himself, Picone said he has seen many changes. A dozen dorms now sprinkle the Brenham cam- pus, and three mbre branches have opened. Those changes were driven by the increase in the sheer number of stu- dents attending the communi- ty college, More than 14,000 now call themselves Blinn students. But some things never change -even after 125 years, officials are eager to celebrate Friday at the Bryan campus. "I think the significance for the community is providing a well-rounded academic edu- cation to a great nwnber of students who possibly would not have had that opportunity to enhance or continue their education without having their start at Blinn because it is economical to do so," The anniversary celebration is scheduled from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Friday in the Blinn College Student Center on the Bryan campus. The event will kick off with a cake cutting and will be followed by a come-and-go reception. executive director of the Blinn College Foundation. Picone has led the founda- tion for the past seven months, but previously served 35 years with the col- See B•DAY, Page A8 Picone said. Blinn College opened its doors on March 28, 1883, as Mission Institute, which was part of the Southern German Conference of the Methodist denomination, according to officials, The college original- ly was organized by German Methodists to educate immi- grant families, and many. early classes were conducted in German. The college didn't assume the Blinn name until 1889, when it became Blinn Memo- rial College. The name change was designed to honor the Rev. Christian Blinn of New York, who was a major donor. Blinn formally was organ- ized as a junior college in 1927 and became the state's first countyowned junior college following a Washington County election in 1937. The first Bryan campus -which has since moved, consolidat- ed and now is the largest of the four sites -was created in 1970. The Schulenburg and Sealy campuses followed in 1997 and 2005, respectively. Barbara Pearson, vice pres- ident for the Brazos County campus since 1996, first start- ed working for Blinn College Blinn From Al 1972 -Blinn moved to the Kraft Building in downtown Bryan and began offering day classes. 1982 - Anow-defunct law lim- iting branch campuses to 1,000 students prompted Blinn to expand to the Woodstane Shopping Center in College Station. The combined fall enrollment in Brazos County was 1,771. 1989- Blinn moved out of the Kraft Building and into the Town- shire Shopping Center in Bryan. 1991 -Blinn converted the old post office building in Bryan into its Allied Health Center housing the newly established nursing, dental hygiene, emergency medical servic- es and physical therapy assistant programs. 1997 - Blinn and the city of Bryan built a main Brazos County' campus on 75 acres near Villa Maria Road at East 29th Street. The first three buildings housed academic classrooms, administra- tive offces, a library, student cen- ter, learning center, bookstore and copy center. Spring enrollment was 7,013. 1997 -Blinn established a campus in Schulenburg. 2000 -Two more buildings opened in Bryan, consolidating most of the technical and academic programs onto the main Brazos County campus. 2001 -Blinn purchased the Schulman 6 Theaters and College Park Center properties in Bryan for additional classroom and parking space. 2004 - A ninth building opened on the main Brazos County campus. Fall enrollment was 10,452. 2005 -Blinn established a campus in Sealy. more than three decades ago as a part-time history teacher. Pearson taught out of a small second-floor room in a downtown Bryan building that backed up to the railroad tracks, she said. Designed as an office build- ing, the hallways were nar- row, the lighting was poor and the elevator often mal- functioned, leaving students and teachers to take the stairs, she recalled. The bufld- ing's fire escape was at the rear of the room in which Pearson taught, but it wasn't the threat of a fire that wor- ried the 400 or so students who attended classes in the building. The students were .more concerned with calls from Bryan police warning of potential train derailments. At least once a semester, the college received a warning that a train was en route and conditions on the track were ripe for a derailment, 'she said. Each time, they had to evacuate the building. Both Picone and Pearson described explosive growth as the biggest change and chal- lenge for the college over the past 125 years. The college started out with a strong emphasis on academ- ic transfers -and it current- ly boasts the highest academ- ic transfer rate~in the state, as well as the highest piercentage of students who go on to earn bachelor's degrees. and high- est pass rates of students tak• ing licensing exams, accord- ing to Blinn officials. But along the way, voca- tional training also became a focus and the college now offers an array of technical courses, including programs related to nursing and fire training and manufacturing, Pearson said. It wasn't always easy living in the shadow of Texas A&M University, Pearson said. An elitist attitude sometimes seemed to suggest that Blinn College offered an inferior education, which Pearson said she found almost comical since many Blinn employees are Aggie graduates. Blinn faculty members have worked hard to elimi- nate that perception by form- ing solid partnerships with both Texas A&M and Sam Houston State University, she said. The key' is to realize Blinn and Texas A&M aren't competitors, she said. A&M's mission is research, while Blinn is focused more on workforce training and skills development. "Building this facility, I guess I am as proud of that as anything," Pearson said, referring to the consolidated Bryan campus set back off 29th Street and Villa Maria Road. "It's given us the oppor- tunity to grow into our name -community college. We are working and serving the needs of the local communi- ty „ ^ Holly Huffman's a-mail address is holly.huffman~theeagle.com. Dr. Donald VoeRer, President of Blinn College, shakes hands with faculty member Lynne Pocaterra during a celebration of the school's 125th anniversary at the Bryan campus Friday. Eagle photo Stuart Villanueva It doesn't look 1~5