LFCC is commemorating its 50th anniversary today

Fifty years ago today, LFCC held its first classes. While the college will certainly be marking the occasion this week, the milestone will be commemorated throughout the 2020-2021 academic year.

One way LFCC is celebrating its 50^th anniversary is with a dedicated website, lfcc.edu/50. The site features a comprehensive, illustrated timeline of Lord Fairfax’s history and links to our new podcast, “LFCC Stories,” and an employee giving campaign. More features will be added to the site throughout the coming year.

The opening of LFCC came just two years after Gov. Mills Godwin established the Virginia Community College System, which has grown to encompass 23 colleges. Ground was broken for the college in Middletown on Oct. 11, 1969.

On LFCC’s first day of classes, there were 577 students. Since then, more than a quarter-million students have been educated at LFCC, with more than 22,000 degrees and certificates awarded. Today, we serve about 20,000 students each year through our academic and workforce training programs.

“Countless lives have been enriched, improved and empowered since our doors opened,” LFCC President Kim Blosser said. “Our students have gone on to even higher levels of education, or to better-paying, more fulfilling careers, or just to greater personal growth because of the education and support they received while at Lord Fairfax.

Then and now: Pictured above: LFCC’s first graduation in 1972; bottom: President Kim Blosser hugging graduate José Hernandez at the 2019 commencement ceremony.

“But, we mustn’t become complacent. We at LFCC must continue to find new and even better ways to ensure that all in our community – especially those who need us the most – are able to access this path to career training and college degrees. To that end, we are engaging in strategic planning this year, and will review everything we are doing so we can be an even greater resource for our students and our community.”

Since LFCC’s early days, the college has expanded, making a college education accessible to even more individuals. In addition to the Middletown Campus – which itself has seen considerable growth with the construction of Alson H. Smith Hall, the Corron Community Development Center, the Science and Health Professions Building and the Student Union Building – LFCC now includes the Fauquier Campus, the Luray-Page County Center and the Vint Hill site.

Thanks to dual enrollment, thousands of young people in our service region – made up of Clarke, Fauquier, Frederick, Page, Rappahannock, Shenandoah and Warren counties, plus the city of Winchester – are able to obtain college credits while still in high school. Many have even earned their associate degree this way.

Learn more about LFCC at lfcc.edu.