TCAT-McKenzie to Break Ground on New Administrative Offices, Classrooms

McKENZIE — Construction will begin later this year on a new administrative and classroom complex at the Tennessee College of Applied Technology at McKenzie. Construction is slated to begin in the fall of 2024 and take more than one year to complete. Bell and Associates is the general contractor.

Willie Huffman, president of TCAT-McKenzie and TCAT-Henry/Carroll in Paris said the new 18,000 square-foot facility will provide modern facilities for the 59-year-old campus. The new complex will be situated front and right of the existing administrative building. Once complete, the existing administrative building will be razed.

Huffman said the instructional wing to the rear of the campus will remain. That is where welding, automotive technology, heat and air condition, industrial maintenance, and information system technology classes are held.

A walkway will connect the current classrooms to the new administrative/classroom building.

TCAT-McKenzie, soon to also bear the name of TCAT-Henry/Carroll along with its sister campus in Paris.

TCAT-McKenzie has classes in welding at a Dresden campus, residential building maintenance and welding at the Carroll County Technical School, for high school students, is in Huntingdon as part of a dual enrollment.

Advanced manufacturing technology is offered as dual enrollment at Clarksburg High School, and classes at the Benton County Vocational School provides dual enrollment in automotive technology.

Full enrollment at the McKenzie campus is estimated at 135 students in the various classes.

A totally new campus is planned in Henry County along the State Route 218 bypass. Huffman said TCAT had a 50-year lease on the building owned by the County of Henry. A new 98,000-square-foot building is planned for Henry County.

In the history of the Paris campus, construction began in October of 1970, and the building was occupied March 1, 1972. During the construction period, the school operated a limited program from the McKenzie School and a temporary office in Paris.

The Paris school, adjacent to Henry County High School, continued as a branch of the Area Vocational-Technical School, McKenzie, until July 1, 1973, when the State Board for Vocational Education made it independent.

Paris campus offers many of the classes as McKenzie, with the addition of nursing, residential building maintenance, and cosmetology. The new campus will add a new telecommunications class through a $1,000,000 state grant.

Huffman is the president of both the McKenzie and Paris campuses. Dr. Jan Latimer is the vice-president of both. Huffman is retiring June 30 after 36 years of service. He began his career as a counselor and financial aid director at the State Area Vocational School. That name changed to the Tennessee Technology Center and now TCAT. With three name changes, Huffman progressed through the ranks, served at both McKenzie and Paris campuses, and was named president on April 1, 2021. He said he is proud young adults and high school students are learning the value of vocational training. The local school has experienced a significant influx of dual enrollment high school students eager to learn a good-paying trade.

On July 1, John Penn Ridgeway, the current mayor of Henry County, assumes the office of president of TCAT Henry/Carroll. Ridgeway was formerly a staff member at TCAT from 2007 through 2020. He holds a Master of Arts in Education from Bethel University and a Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration from the University of Tennessee at Martin. John Penn served at the McKenzie campus of TCAT under the presidency of now retired Dr. Brad White.

History of the McKenzie Campus
The Tennessee Technology Center at McKenzie, formerly named the McKenzie State Area Vocational School, is one of 27 Technology Centers in the State of Tennessee and is located on Highway 79 and 22, within the city limits of McKenzie.

The construction of the McKenzie School began in the spring of 1964 and was completed in 1965. It began operation under the local direction of Guy R. Kirk, who was appointed to the position of Superintendent of the School by then Assistant Commissioner of Vocational Education in Tennessee, Charlie Dunn. The School enrolled its first students in July of 1965 in Automotive Mechanics, Drafting and Office Occupations. The first students to graduate from the Center did so in 1966.

In 1999, the Center underwent a two-million dollar renovation project. This project included building new shop classrooms, installing a new heat and air system and an electrical system in the industrial building, renovating the administrative building, and connecting the two shop buildings to the administrative building by adding two new classrooms.