Members of the Maine State Legislature, Pratt & Whitney, Maine Community College System, the York County Community College Foundation and YCCC came together at the new building to celebrate at a ribbon cutting ceremony.
The $8.4 million building — which came about through a generous donation from aircraft engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney and other donors as well as a state bond worth $3.4 million — contains eight classrooms, a small conference room, the Sam L. Cohen Mathematics lab and the Hannaford Lecture Hall, which seats over 140 people.
The building is only the second on the YCCC campus.
“This has been a marriage between the college, the public sector and the private sector,” said YCCC President Barbara Finkelstein during the ribbon cutting ceremony. “I can’t tell you how much support we’ve gotten from the general community.”
Michael Papp, manufacturing operations vice president at Pratt & Whitney, spoke highly of the partnership the school and the aircraft engine manufacturing company have built.
“This is an outstanding day,” Papp said. “The relationship between the community college and Pratt & Whitney has been second to none. They’ve done tremendous things for us and our ability to compete worldwide with the product we make, and us winning in that competition has to do with YCCC and our partnership.”
Members of the Maine State Legislature were present, such as state Sen. Justin Chenette, state Rep. Marty Grohman and state Sen. Ron Collins.
In a brief statement, Collins praised the collaborative effort in making the building’s creation possible.
“There are a lot of folks locally, statewide, industry leaders who have stepped forward and given monetarily as well as their input and blood, sweat and tears to make this building happen,” Collins said. “It’s a fine addition to York County Community College. Congratulations to all who helped put this building together.”
— Staff Writer Ryder Schumacher can be reached at 282-1535, or via email at rschumacher@journaltribune.com.
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