The chemistry is right for ECTC, Fort Knox

Building a new science lab on Elizabethtown Community and Technical College’s Fort Knox campus illustrated just the kind of chemistry the college and military post have with each other.

Kelly Cantrall

Deputy Garrison Commander Emmet Holley and Mary Jo King, public relations director for Elizabethtown Community and Technical College, talk at an open house for a new science lab in the U.S. Army Learning Center.

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Kelly Cantrall

Displays were set up for guests at the open house for the new science lab for students of Elizabethtown Community and Technical College at the U.S. Army Learning Center.

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ECTC opened its science lab in the U.S. Army Learning Center in January, and this week hosted an open house for the facility.

The lab is part of an extensive renovation of the building that included adding a nine-classroom wing.

The building didn’t have a lab of any kind, so science offerings for students at Fort Knox had to be scaled back.
Students in classes that required lab work traveled to labs at ECTC’s main campus, North Hardin High School or Fort Knox High School, said Jack Dilbeck of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness.

“It’s something we definitely needed,” Dilbeck said.

The Army renovated the space and provided furniture, ECTC provided lab supplies and materials and faculty assisted in its design.

They shared the cost of about $232,000.

The lab enables all lab classes to be held on post and means courses such as chemistry, anatomy and physiology can be offered.

Emmet Holley, Fort Knox deputy garrison commander, said the post works to ensure all the needs of soldiers and their families are met, including educational ones.

“That is something that we feel like we made a commitment to,” Holley said at the open house.

ECTC President/CEO Thelma White discussed the partnership that ECTC and Fort Knox have and how it allows the college to serve the military. There are more than 475 students at the ECTC Fort Knox campus.

“We certainly feel that we’re a strong part of the Fort Knox family and community,” White said.

Kelly Cantrall can be reached at (270) 505-1747 or kcantrall@thenewsenterprise.com.