Trident Tech branches out

The influence of Trident Technical College no longer just runs north along the Interstate 26 corridor. It has expanded westward.

What started as a machine shop now represents educational potential for many in St. Paul's Parish.

Hollywood and its surrounding communities — James and Johns islands, Meggett, Yonge's Island, Ravenel, Rantowles, Adams Run, Green Pond and Edisto Island — will reap the benefits of the school's newest satellite site on S.C. Highway 165.

The school will offer courses for academic credit and continuing education that cover a range of interests, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation, computer skills, small business management and introduction to early childhood education.

The school's director of work-force development, Lloyd Kling, said course offerings reflect what residents of St. Paul's Parish and the vicinity said they would be interested in studying. He said his staff talked to local mayors and businesses to see what skills would enrich their workers.

The hope is that a Trident Tech branch with select offerings will stimulate the economy in the southern part of Charleston County, college President Mary Thornley said in remarks at the school's open house last week.

"We are working on the premise that there are people who live here that want to work here," she said. "There are other people who want to take courses that enrich their lives. You look at the unemployment rate and it's 5-point something, 6-point something percent. Well, to the unemployed person, it's 100 percent. ... We're going to the rural part of the county and bringing the education here."

Several state legislators sent their well wishes, and S.C. Rep. Robert Brown, D-Charleston and Colleton counties, gave a short speech about how educational facilities such as this one will benefit an area he has a personal stake in. In addition to representing parts of two counties, he is a Hollywood resident and graduate of Trident Tech, which has a main campus in North Charleston and branches in Berkeley County and downtown Charleston.

"This facility will provide opportunities for students to compete in the global market," he said. "It will also be a way for us to increase the graduation rate, increase the college attendance rate and decrease our high school dropout rate."

The idea for the school germinated from a notion held by the late Ted Corbin, a longtime Hollywood resident: No matter what trade you're in, education is important.

Corbin founded Metal Trades, a metal fabrication company that has served as a community institution on Yonge's Island since the 1960s. About two years ago, he started holding classes after work hours. Over 12 weeks, students could learn the basics of welding, and many of them went to work for his company. His son, Rusty Corbin, said the program was important to his father.

"It's a rural area, and there are so many kids coming out of high school and not doing anything," Rusty Corbin said. He said the classes were so popular that they often were backlogged for the first year.

The building the Trident Tech satellite is housed in started as a machine shop for Metal Trades. It has been used as an automotive repair shop, storage space and other purposes. The Corbin family leases the building to the school for $1 per year, and the school refurbished its welding lab with new equipment. The Corbin family also gave the college a portrait of Ted Corbin dressed in a simple khaki shirt and white undershirt.

"That's how he dressed," Rusty Corbin said. "He worked seven days a week and dressed simply."

Reach Sophia Rodriguez at srodriguez@postandcourier.com.