The Shadow
Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of articles commemorating the 50th anniversary of the founding of Dabney S. Lancaster Community College.
DSLCC will host a number of activities and special events during the year-long celebration in 2012.
In 1962, the General Assembly established the institution that was to become Dabney S. Lancaster Community College.
It was first the Clifton Forge-Covington Branch of Virginia Polytechnic Institute, which is commonly known now as Virginia Tech.
In 1967, the community college system in Virginia was established and the institution was named after Dr. Dabney S. Lancaster, a prominent Virginia educator who retired in Bath County.
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CLIFTON FORGE – One member of the first class at the Clifton Forge-Covington Branch of Virginia Polytechnic Institute had not planned to attend college at all, but something happened to change her mind.
Alice Wood Dills Higgins, a high school senior in December of 1963, realized that an institution of higher education was ready to open – right in this area – and decided that enrolling in college would now be accessible and financially possible.
What was the institution like in those early days?
Most students in that first class did not have their own car to drive to class, so they carpooled. Nancy Nicely, Harold Paxton and Alice were given a ride by Harold’s mother, who dropped them off on her way to work at the C&O Hospital.
The students spent time between classes studying in the library and lunch was from a brown bag packed at home.
There was no snack bar and no fast food restaurant within walking distance.
Backels Hall was the only building on campus, which was quite a contrast to the large Virginia Tech campus, where Alice transferred to complete a bachelors degree. Her days attending DSLCC classes were not over, however, as she later learned that she needed to fulfill requirements set by the Virginia Department of Education for teacher certification, so she returned to DSLCC in the summer for more classes in specific subjects.
Class choices may have been limited at DSLCC, but class sizes were small and comfortable with outstanding faculty. The math and engineering instructors were graduate students working on their doctorates at Virginia Tech.
Students had the same textbooks, syllabi, and class schedules that their counterparts had on the Blacksburg campus, including, much to the dismay of some, classes scheduled on Saturdays at 8 a.m.
In June of 1966 there was a ceremony celebrating the successful completion of two years and recognizing the first graduates. In the fall, some students began attending classes at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg while others transferred to various four-year colleges and universities.
After receiving her BS at Virginia Tech, Alice began a career in teaching. She had no plans for an advanced degree but in cooperation with Madison College, now James Madison University, the National Science Foundation offered grants to teachers of mathematics and science, guaranteeing that all graduate courses would be taught either in the summer or at night.
Alice attended classes for three summers on campus and drove for two winters from Clifton Forge to Harrisonburg one night a week on Route 42 (Interstate 64 had not been completed at the time.) Alice was pleased to earn an MS in Mathematics and later agreed to teach a class for a degree program developed for mathematics teachers in the Clifton Forge, Covington, and Alleghany County School Systems.
During the mid-1970s, Alice returned to DSLCC – this time as a teacher. Students were non-traditional, including many who were shift-workers at local industries. One of Alice’s most interesting experiences was teaching math for apprentices.
She recalls, “Those guys were amazing. They worked a physically demanding day job and always came to class prepared. They came early and stayed late. I explained math to them and they explained electricity to me.”
Alice retired after teaching for 30 years in Virginia, 25 of them at Alleghany County High, Clifton Middle (the one that was in Clifton Forge) and Alleghany High Schools.
DSLCC was also important in the lives of several of Alice’s family members.
Her brother, Charlie Wood, and sister, Margaret Wood Brown, also attended DSLCC. Charlie enrolled in DSLCC in 1965, later graduated from Virginia Tech, and became Vice President of the Retail Division of Southern States Cooperative. Margaret received three associate degrees from DSLCC and is the Membership Coordinator for the C&O Hospital Association. Margaret’s daughter, Rebecca Brown-Harris, is currently attending DSLCC.
“Post-secondary education would have been difficult, if not impossible, for us without Dabney S. Lancaster Community College,” states Alice. “Our experiences are just representative of those experienced by many whose lives were touched in some way by attending DSLCC.”
