Highland County commissioners celebrate SSCC's 50th anniversary

Highland County commissioners Brad Roades, Terry Britton and David Daniels presented a proclamation in honor of Southern State Community College’s 50 years of service to southern Ohio during their Wednesday, April 16 meeting.

Accepting the proclamation were SSCC President Dr. Nicole Roades and the two Highland County representatives on the Board of Trustees, Karen Daniels and Denny Kirk.

The meeting was held at SSCC for the second time, as renovations are underway at the Highland County Administration Building. Commissioners anticipate meeting at SSCC until at least early August.

Dr. Roades both welcomed commissioners to the college’s central campus and joked that it “looks like ‘Bring Your Wife to Work Day,’” as two-thirds of the SSCC representatives accepting the proclamation are married to county commissioners.

“Through the dedication and commitment of their faculty, staff, students and community partners over the years, Southern State Community College has grown from a small institution serving a handful of students to a regional hub of innovation, cultural enrichment and leadership, enhancing the lives of students and strengthening the fabric of our community,” the commissioners’ proclamation says. “The institution has awarded more than 14,000 degrees and certificates, and alumni have pursued successful careers in fields such as health care, business, technology, education, social services, law enforcement and the arts, making a significant contribution and impacting thousands of lives, locally and nationally.”

In honor of its 50th anniversary, the college is celebrating throughout 2025 with a variety of events and activities. For a calendar of events and a history of the college, see their anniversary page at https://www.sscc.edu/50/index.shtml.

Before her husband read the proclamation in Southern State’s honor, Dr. Roades discussed some of that history, as well as future plans for the college.

“Southern State actually got started in Eastern Brown High School in Brown County in 1968,” Dr. Roades said. “There was a branch of University of Cincinnati, called the Tri-County Academic Center, and I think they operated there for a little while, and then in 1975 we moved over to Fincastle.”

The SSCC president added that the college also added a branch in Wilmington in the 1970s, opened their Hillsboro campus in the 1980s and “expanded into Fayette County in the ’90s.” Today, the college operates two physical locations, in Hillsboro and Mount Orab, as well as offering online education.

“We are very happy to be in the community,” Dr. Roades said. “We have roughly 2,200 students that attend Southern State. For Highland County in particular, you all represent about 25 percent of our overall student population, so there's about 530 Highland Countians across all of our campuses.

“All the other counties, besides Adams, Brown, Clinton, Highland and Fayette, is one of the fastest-growing counties, or county designations. Clermont is a fast and growing one. We're seeing some students from even Hamilton County, Franklin County and so forth.”

Dr. Roades also discussed the college’s role in offering “accessible, affordable and high-quality education” to students of many different ages and backgrounds.

“In terms of accessibility, I just mentioned we have multiple campuses, but we also try to meet students where they are,” Dr. Roades said. “They can start wherever they need to start. We have programs called the Adult Opportunity Center that really basically would start someone at entry-level reading if they need it, and then hopefully help them work up to college-level work.

“Affordability is the real story, and particularly in today's day and age, when people are talking extensively about the high cost of education, I think we are doing very well. Our tuition is around $5,000 in comparison to the state average of four-year public universities, which is around $12,500, and that's not including room and board.”

In addition, Dr. Roades highlighted the College Credit Plus Program, where high school students can attend college classes at no cost.

“Many families take advantage of that, and that is a really great thing for Ohio families,” Dr. Roades said. “You really can attend college without going into the extensive debt that we often hear about in the media today.”

Dr. Roades concluded that the college’s half-century of service proves their mission of high-quality education.

“We’re designed to last,” she said. “I think 50 years is a testament to a quality school. I've been here for almost 30 of those 50. I think we've got a good thing going here and hope to be around for many years.”

Looking ahead to upcoming projects, Roades said that the college is renovating their computer science center this year with their new multimillion-dollar  Information Technology Center of Excellence. The College is also working toward their next “10-year reaffirmation” of accreditation through the Higher Learning Commission, who will be visiting in April 2026.

Daniels asked how the college is responding to new factories coming into Ohio, such as the LG/Honda battery plant in Fayette County and the Anduril weapons plant in Pickaway County.

“How do you see Southern State playing into workforce development, as far as creating opportunities and education for those people that are looking for that kind of a thing?” Daniels asked.

Dr. Roades said that the Ohio Association of Community Colleges is a “lifeline to help us access curriculum developments in those areas” and to “help inform what we need.

“Just as an example, Intel — which was actually something that was in the works before LG came on board — we didn't have necessarily the expertise in house to understand what kind of training was needed,” Dr. Roades said. “We didn't have people that could write the curriculum, because it was relatively new to us, so we leveraged our relationship with the other partners in OACC, who did have some of those resources. They ended up developing a shared curriculum, so we have three courses on our books that are specific to the manufacturing and chips.”

However, Dr. Roades said that as highlighted by Highland District Hospital President/CEO Tim Parry in a recent opinion piece (https://highlandcountypress.com/opinions/southern-state-community-colle…), SSCC can help prepare individuals for a variety of career paths within a given industry, including manufacturing or health care.

“We try really hard to make sure that we're not just narrowly looking at one area that an industry would need,” Dr. Roades said. “I think even with LG, there's opportunities beyond the plant floor that people will be prepared to take advantage of.”

Dr. Roades added that they have a new and “very expensive piece of equipment that's needed to facilitate training” that will be implemented in the coming months for the manufacturing courses. Commissioner Roades said that in spending time at the college while the administration building is under construction, commissioners have enjoyed being able to see the “college experience” firsthand, including these resources for students.

“Obviously, there are a lot of things that we're very proud of,” Dr. Roades said. “I think that some of the highlights are the technology. I get really excited when I go into Health Science Center and see the human patient simulators and the equipment that students actually get to train on. That is top notch. Our engineering program has a lot of equipment in there as well that is highly relevant.”

After meeting with the SSCC representatives, Commissioner Roades read the proclamation to “recognize the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Southern State Community College” and to “proclaim that the institution continues to honor and support the southern Ohio region by fostering students’ growth and achievements.”

For more from Wednesday’s meeting, go to https://highlandcountypress.com/news/federal-local-funding-and-grants-a….

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