HAZLET – Brookdale Community College has expanded once again, this time opening the Brookdale Community College Northern Monmouth Higher Education Center at Hazlet.
A ribbon cutting took place on Oct. 29, with the building officially opening Nov. 12.
County and town officials including Freeholders William Barham, Lillian Burry, Robert Clifton and Barbara McMorrow, along with Hazlet Mayor James DiNardo, joined Brookdale trustees and professors at the ribbon-cutting event.
The facility, which is located in a renovated 25,000-square-foot former office building, will join locations in the towns of Wall, Long Branch, Neptune and Sandy Hook as satellite campuses of the Lincroft location.
The new campus is located at 1 Crown Plaza in Hazlet and replaces the former Brookdale facility in West Keansburg.
“The West Keansburg location was in an old elementary school,” said Dr. Anita Voogt, dean of Brookdale’s Communiversity and Higher Education Centers. “By moving and making everything new, it makes this location a special one.”
The satellite locations enable Brookdale to enroll more students who can attend courses closer to home.
Courses for the current semester will include life sciences, introduction to corrections, and medical terminology among others.
Voogt said that the new center has a lot to offer.
“It’s just wonderful,” she said. “It’s a magnificent place. Everything is brand new.”
The center also offers noncredit courses including traditional Irish dance, belly-dancing basics, French for travel, and digital imagery.
A feature the Hazlet location offers is a Student Success Center for the more than 900 students enrolled.
The Student Success Center is where students can get tutoring help or meet with an adviser.
“This is something that our students love,” Voogt said. “The students wanted an area with more counselors and we provided it to them.”
There will also be many community programs taking place in the center.
One of the programs based there is the Displaced Homemakers Program for people who have experienced divorce, disability or death of a spouse and have no source of income.
According to the school’s Web site, the Displaced Homemakers Program offers a “free, customized, holistic, client-centered program to help you transition into the job market and address a variety of other needs.”
It provides referrals to social service agencies, educational institutions, training programs and financial aid resources.
“We are very interested in working with the community as a whole,” Voogt said. “We want this Brookdale location to be everyone in the area’s location for resources.”
A student lounge is part of the center where students can use computers or just go to relax.
Compared to the old West Keansburg location, the Hazlet center also offers more parking.
Voogt said she is excited about what this new location has to offer.
“There are five computer labs, an expanded number of courses and state-of-theart technology,” Voogt said. “These are significant factors to the students’ success.”
The computer labs will be open from 7:45 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Registration for winter courses will be under way in December and Voogt looks forward to seeing the center in action.
“It’s a whole new day for Brookdale,” Voogt said. “It’s an exciting time.”