Coahoma Community College (CCC) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

historically black Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. ...

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior sec ...

Coahoma County, Mississippi Coahoma County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the population was 26,151. Its county seat is Clarksdale. The Clarksdale, MS Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Coahoma County. It is loc ...

. The college was founded in 1949 and is accredited by the

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is an educational accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. This agency accredits over 13,000 public and priva ...

. It offers associate degree and certificate programs in more than 70 areas of focus. The campus lies in an agrarian setting along Clarksdale-Friars Point Road near the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

and serves Coahoma, Bolivar, Quitman, Tallahatchie, and Tunica counties. CCC's athletic teams, the Tigers, compete in the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) of the

National Junior College Athletic Association The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

(NJCAA).

History

Coahoma Community College was founded in Coahoma County in 1949 as an extension of

Coahoma Agricultural High School Coahoma Early College High School (CECHS), formerly Coahoma Agricultural High School (CAHS), is a public secondary school in unincorporated Coahoma County, Mississippi (United States), with a Clarksdale postal address. The school is designated a ...

(1924), Mississippi's first agricultural high school for black students. Upon the establishment of the college, the high school was renamed Coahoma Junior College and Agricultural High School. The college initially offered courses to black students under the

separate but equal Separate but equal was a legal doctrine in United States constitutional law, according to which racial segregation did not necessarily violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which nominally guaranteed "equal protecti ...

doctrine. It was the first community college in Mississippi for black students. Before becoming affiliated with Mississippi's public junior colleges system in its second year of operation, CCC was fully-funded by Coahoma County. In 1989, the Board of Trustees and State Board for Community and Junior Colleges approved renaming the junior college to Coahoma Community College. In 1995, the Mississippi legislature granted the college its own district consisting of Bolivar, Coahoma, Quitman, Tallahatchie, and Tunica Counties.

Superintendents and presidents

Prior to 1945, the college was led by a superintendent. Superintendents and presidents of the college have included: * M. L. Strange, 1924–1925 * J. M. Mosley, 1924–1929 * J. W. Addison, 1929–1937 * J. B. Wright, 1937–1945 * B. F. McLaurin, 1945–1966 * J. E. Miller, 1966–1979 * McKinley C. Martin, 1980–1992 * Vivian M. Presley, 1992–2013 * Valmadge Towner, 2013–present

Administration and organization

CCC operates under four divisions: Academic, Career & Technical Education, Health Sciences and Workforce Development. A typical academic year contains two 15-week terms during the fall (August–December) and spring (January–May). Within the full terms are two accelerated eight-week terms each fall and spring, as well as a two-week winter session (December–January).The full summer term is eight weeks long (May–July) and contains two accelerated four-week terms. An academic year begins on the first day of the fall term and ends on the last day of the summer term. CCC's endowment had a market value of approximately $2.77 million in the fiscal year that ended in 2019.

Academics

CCC has an open admissions policy. The college offers dual enrollment programs to local high school students. In addition to its associate and certificate degree programs, CCC offers adult education courses as well as non-credit

continuing education Continuing education (similar to further education in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland) is an all-encompassing term within a broad list of post-secondary learning activities and programs. The term is used mainly in the United ...

and workforce development courses. CCC has transfer agreements with every public four-year institution in Mississippi. The agreements allow students to automatically transfer after completing an associate degree at CCC. CCC is a TRIO program participant through its Educational Talent Search program, which is a government-funded program that supports low-income and first-generation college students in achieving their

postsecondary Tertiary education, also referred to as third-level, third-stage or post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank, for example, defines tertiary education as including univers ...

, career and economic goals. The program offers educational support, high school and college entry guidance and academic advising to local students in grades 7 through 12.

Student life

Student body

As of fall 2020, CCC's student body consisted of 1,612 students. There were 78 percent full time and 22 percent part time students.

Organizations

More than 30 student clubs and organizations operate at CCC, including student government, special interest and service organizations. CCC holds '"Mr. Coahoma Community College" and "Miss Coahoma Community College", annual

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

s that honor a select group of current, high-achieving students within the college's student government association.

Athletics

The CCC athletic association chairs six varsity athletic programs. The teams are collectively known as the Tigers. They belong to the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference and Region 23 of the

(NJCAA). Men's sports include

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. Women's sports include basketball and

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

. CCC also chairs a

co-ed Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

team. Although it is not affiliated with the NJCAA, CCC also chairs a co-ed

cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

squad.

Notable alumni

Chris Claybrooks Chris Claybrooks (born July 17, 1998) is an American football cornerback for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Memphis. College career Claybrooks played wide receiver at Coahoma Communi ...

, professional

player *

Earnie Killum Earnest Killum (June 11, 1948 – June 11, 2020) was an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After starring for Stetson from 1968 to 1970, averaging a school-record ...

, former professional basketball player * Orlando Paden, member of the

Mississippi House of Representatives The Mississippi House of Representatives is the lower house of the Mississippi Legislature, the lawmaking body of the U.S. state of Mississippi. According to the state constitution of 1890, it is to comprise no more than 122 members elected fo ...

* Timothy Pollard, former

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

basketball player * Davion Taylor, professional football player

Notes

References

External links

Official websiteOfficial athletics website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coahoma Community colleges in Mississippi Historically black universities and colleges in the United States Educational institutions established in 1924 Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Education in Coahoma County, Mississippi Buildings and structures in Coahoma County, Mississippi NJCAA athletics 1924 establishments in Mississippi