Florida’s Board of Education met on Tuesday and approved Valencia College’s request to build a new campus in Poinciana, paving the way for Valencia to begin the process of looking for a site for the new campus.
Although Valencia College officials have been eyeing a possible Poinciana campus since 2003, the discussion began to gain traction this year, said Sandy Shugart, Valencia College president. “We have been looking forward to bringing our presence to Poinciana for many years,” Shugart said.
The new college will be Valencia’s sixth campus and is expected to serve about 4,000 students. School officials are not yet certain when the campus will open. Valencia still must acquire land and funding for the project.
“A campus in Poinciana would be a game-changer,” said Shugart. “We’d like to increase the college-going rate of students who graduate from high school in the Poinciana area; we’d like to get more adults to complete college degrees as well. We’d like to offer more career-training there; and we’d like to partner with the University of Central Florida and TECO (Technical Education Center Osceola) and others to make sure a full gamut of talent is available for companies that relocate and expand there.”
