“Fueling the economy with robust action is…unquestionably a long term investment in the community. Residents live and work in their home communities when they trust that they can advance there. Employers in this neighborhood [have] job openings in informational technology, health care, hospitality and much more…eager to fill these jobs once they have the right education and training,” Dr. Frieda Lacey, first vice chair of the Montgomery College (MC) Board of Trustees for the 2022-2023 term, asserted Wednesday, November 2nd, 2022 at a sunny press conference held outside the East County Education Center (ECEC), located in Silver Spring, Maryland, near White Oak.

Community members, Montgomery College leaders, the Montgomery County Government, Montgomery County Council, MCPS (Montgomery County Public Schools) employees, members of the press, and representative MC students got together on the late morning to celebrate the expansion, which will serve over 1,000 students – making ECEC four times larger than MC’s Gaithersburg Training Center, and its sixth location, following Rockville, Germantown, Takoma Park/Silver Spring, Gaithersburg, and Wheaton before it. ECEC will offer courses in Allied Healthcare, Cyber Security, Early Childhood Education, English for Speakers of Other Languages, General Education, Information Technology, and Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Proximity to Route 29 and the Inter-County Connector (ICC), as well as businesses including Adventist Healthcare in White Oak, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and many restaurants opens a myriad of workforce opportunities. Dr. Anthony Stall, President of Adventist Healthcare, advocates, “the anchor that everyone has seen in our vision [looks like] a place where economic mobility is within everyone’s reach.”

Holding within 11 classrooms, 2 labs, a Community Engagement Center, and Raptor Central, the East County building brings Montgomery College closer to its eventual goal of opening a fourth campus in seven to ten years. The goal arose from a feasibility study measuring diversity, the economy, and transportation access in East County which stated it included, “faculty, staff, students, community members, local elected officials, and employers”. Montgomery County Executive, Marc Elrich, stated in an interview with the Advocate regarding opening the fourth campus that, “the hardest first step is determining the location for the campus” and that the ECEC likely serves independently from the future fourth campus.

Montgomery County Council member Nancy Navarro shared, “We are an example to the nation, of how a county this complex can seek a very high quality of life for everyone.” First generation Nursing student Nneka Ndubisi stated, “I can honestly say, with confidence, that the ease for future students who will be able to transition from classroom to clinical setting will have a positive impact on this study [which] speaks to the strength and health of the community in which we live in.”