What started as a dream de­cades earlier officially became a reality last Friday with Collin College’s Wylie campus ribbon cutting ceremony.

The idea of a campus serving southeastern Collin County be­came feasible on May 6, 2017. Voters approved a $600 million bond election to provide funds to build the Wylie campus, as well as other facilities in growing ar­eas of the county.

Guest speakers at the ribbon cutting ceremony in the campus’ conference center included trust­ee chairman Robert ‘Bob’ Col­lins, college president Neil Mat­kin, state representative Candy Noble, Wylie mayor Eric Hogue, Wylie ISD superintendent David Vinson and WISD trustee Heath­er Leggett.

Each spoke of the importance of the campus, the journey to make it a reality and the impact it would have on the community.

“We have incredibly strong partnerships in Wylie,” said Matkin. “When the college first began, the leaders of this city opened their high school doors to Collin College, af­fording the college the op­portunity to offer classes in the evenings. This fall, we are thrilled to come full circle and open the doors of the Wylie campus with a wide variety of educational opportunities.”

Collins, one of the college’s founding trustees, emphasized the importance of a quality edu­cation within reach to all.

“One of Collin College’s long­standing goals has been to pro­vide excellent, affordable higher education available throughout our service areas, he said. “This beautiful new campus is fulfill­ing that goal in Southeastern Collin County.”

Classes began at the 100-acre campus on Aug. 24. Currently, their facility features three main buildings. Part of the incentive to bring the campus to Wylie in­cluded a donation of 44 acres by the city.

Located on Country Club Road across from Wylie City Hall, the tree-lined campus boasts a student center with at­tached conference center, the campus commons and the li­brary.

The three-story student cen­ter is home to a striking social staircase, Mama Lucido’s café, a Starbucks bar, a Barnes & No­ble bookstore, art studios, music practice rooms with Steinway products and a game room fitted with retro-era games like Pac-Man®.

The campus commons, also three stories, offers a welcome center, career center, state-of-the-art science labs, the Cou­garFit fitness center, a veterans resource center and a one-stop center for enrollment, admis­sions, advising and financial aid assistance.

The two-story library includes a glass rotunda and is the high­light of the campus. It houses the American National Bank of Texas Honors Institute and the Anthony Peterson Center for Academic Assistance which in­cludes a math lab, writing center and science den.

The 339, 000 sf campus will serve up to 7,500 students once it is fully utilized.

Collin College serves more than 58,000 credit and continu­ing education students annually. It offers more than 100 degrees and certificates. The college of­fers a Bachelor of Science in nursing and a Bachelor of Ap­plied Technology in cyber secu­rity, both four-year disciplines.

Joe Reavis contributed to this story.

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By Chad Engbrock • [email protected]