Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (MGCCC) is a public community college with its main campus in Perkinston, Mississippi. It was founded as Harrison County Agricultural High School in 1912. MGCCC has three campuses and six centers: The main campus in Perkinston; the Jackson County Campus is in Gautier; the Harrison County Campus is in Gulfport; with the George County Center in Lucedale; the West Harrison County Center in Long Beach; the Advanced Manufacturing & Technology Center in Gulfport; the Keesler Center at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi; the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport; and the Bryant Center at Tradition in Harrison County.[1]

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College
TypePublic community college
Academic affiliations
Space-grant
PresidentDr. Mary S. Graham
Location
Perkinston
,
Mississippi
,
United States
ColorsBlue & Gold
MascotBulldogs
WebsiteMGCCC.edu

MGCCC also offers a Community Campus that provides workforce education programs, onsite and online, to south Mississippi residents and employers.[2]

The college's athletic teams are known as the Bulldogs. They compete in the Mississippi Association of Community & Junior Colleges in football, basketball, baseball, soccer, softball, golf and tennis. MGCCC won the National Junior College Athletic Association Football Championship in 1971 and 1984, was co-national champion in 2007,[3] and won outright again in 2019. The football team also shared the 1948 Williamson Football Rating Bureau national championship with Compton Junior College. The men's golf team won the NJCAA Division II Men's Golf Championship in 2018[4] and Colin Troxler won an individual national championship in 2017.[5] The women's basketball team won the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Junior College national championship in 1973.

History

MGCCC began as the Harrison County Agricultural High School on September 17, 1911. Four years later, north Harrison County became Stone County, and both counties continued to support the school. On September 14, 1925, with the support of Jackson County, Harrison-Stone-Jackson Agricultural High School and Junior College began offering its first year of Junior College work. George County then added its support in 1942, and the institution took the name of Perkinston Junior College.

In 1962, the Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College District was formed, and three years later, Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College added the Jefferson Davis and Jackson County campuses. Between 1965 and 1985, 4 new centers were opened. The college name was changed to Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College on October 1, 1987. In 1996, the Community Campus, a campus without walls, was added as a fourth campus.

In 2006, President George W. Bush became the first sitting President to speak at a community college graduation, when he spoke at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.[6]

On July 22, 2020, the Board of Trustees for MGCCC voted to change the name of the Jefferson Davis campus to the Harrison County campus, as people in Mississippi and in the US called for removal of symbols and names that tend to honor the Confederate States of America.[7]

Notable alumni
Name Class year Notability Reference(s)
Boyce Holleman 1940s Attorney, politician, and actor [8]
Fred Haise 1952 American engineer and former NASA astronaut [9]
Tom Johnson 2003-2004 American football defensive tackle
Dantrell Savage 2005 American football running back
Brittney Reese 2006 American long jumper/Olympian
Terrence Cody 2007 American football nose tackle
Eltoro Freeman 2008 American football linebacker
Demond Washington 2008 American football defensive back
Drew Granier 2009 Professional baseball player [10]
John Jenkins 2009 American football nose tackle
Chris White (linebacker) 2009 American football middle linebacker
Don Jones 2010 American football defensive back
Alonzo Lawrence 2012 American football defensive back
Tramain Jacobs 2010 American football defensive back
Vick Ballard 2008 American football running back
  • Perkinston campus sign
  • Clock Tower on Perkinston campus
  • Jefferson Davis campus sign

See also

References
  1. MGCCC Campus Maps Retrieved 2014-10-09
  2. MGCCC Community Campus Retrieved 2014-10-09
  3. Butler and Mississippi Gulf Coast Share 2007 NJCAA Football Title Archived 2009-04-10 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "MGCCC WINS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP". Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Athletics. 2018-05-24. Retrieved 2018-07-10.
  5. "Troxler wins national title for 2nd-place MGCCC". Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Athletics. 2017-05-26. Retrieved 2018-07-10.
  6. "Bush urges MGCCC graduates to continue their resolve". Archived from the original on December 14, 2006. Retrieved 2006-09-25.
  7. Taft, Isabelle. "MGCCC renames Gulfport campus to remove name of Confederate president Jefferson Davis". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
  8. An Oral History with Jesse Boyce Holleman Archived 2014-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2014-03-04
  9. NASA Bios Retrieved 2014-03-03
  10. "Former Thibodaux pitcher Granier signs with Louisiana-Monroe". DailyComet.com. Retrieved October 28, 2014.

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