Northwest Florida State College
MottoEducatio Optima
TypePublic college
Established1963 (1963)
Parent institution
Florida College System
PresidentDevin Stephenson [1]
Academic staff
300[2]
Undergraduates5,497[3]
Location
Niceville, Florida
,
U.S.
Campus264 acres (107 ha)
Colors      Red, white, black
Sporting affiliations
NJCAA Region 8, Panhandle Conference
MascotRaiders
Websitewww.nwfsc.edu

Northwest Florida State College is a public college in Niceville, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award associate and baccalaureate degrees. Northwest Florida State College has multiple campuses but has operated continuously on its Niceville campus since 1963. The college also operates a charter high school, the Collegiate High School at Northwest Florida State College, which opened in 2000.[4]

History

Northwest Florida State College was founded in 1963 as Okaloosa-Walton Junior College, with its campus in Valparaiso, Florida; students started class the next year. A permanent campus in Niceville was dedicated in April 1969.[5] The school voted to change its name to Okaloosa-Walton Community College in 1988,[6] and gained four-year status in 2003, thus changing its name to Okaloosa-Walton College.

In June 2008, Governor Charlie Crist signed a bill that allowed several community colleges, including OWC, to offer four-year degrees and be considered part of Florida's upper education under the newly formed Florida College Pilot Project,[7] making OWC one of the state colleges in Florida. Due to the change, school officials elected to once again change the name, this time to Northwest Florida State College.

Campus locations

As of the 2020-2021 year, Northwest Florida State College operates at six locations.[8]

Collegiate High School at Northwest Florida State College

The Collegiate High School at Northwest Florida State College (CHS) is a charter school in Niceville, Florida, established in 2000. From then until the fall semester of 2022, CHS enabled 10th-, 11th-, and 12th-grade students to simultaneously earn both a standard high school diploma and a transferable two-year college degree (Associate of Arts) or transferable college credits. The 2022–2023 school year introduced a freshman program that allows students to receive an Associate of Science degree. Only students who enroll as a freshman have access to the AS program, and, upon entering 10th-grade, they have the choice to continue in that program or transfer to the standard AA program.[9]

CHS is a public school and is free of charge to students. College-credit classes, college and high school textbooks, provision for transportation, use of a personal laptop computer, tutoring, and more are all provided at no cost. Students are allowed to participate in a wide range of college activities and extracurriculars including sports, the Raider Rhythms dance team, and the college's Student Government Association.[10] CHS was named the #1 school in Florida for the 2002–2003, 2009–2010, and 2010–2011 school years[11] and a U.S. Department of Education National Blue Ribbon School in both 2006 (receiving the award as "Okaloosa-Walton Collegiate High School") and 2013.[12]

Mattie Kelly Arts Center

The Mattie Kelly Arts Center is a performing arts and educational complex, with a 1,650-seat main stage theater, a 195-seat Sprint Theater, the Mattie Kelly Art Galleries, a music wing, a visual arts building and the NWFSC amphitheater.[13] The Mattie Kelly Art Galleries consist of the McIlroy Gallery, and Holzhauer Gallery.[14]

Athletics

The school's athletic teams compete in the Panhandle Conference of the Florida State College Activities Association, a body of the National Junior College Athletic Association Region 8.[15]

Notable alumni

Alumni Notability
Chris Duarte Current professional basketball player for the Indiana Pacers
Kedrick Brown Former professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers
Robert Coello Former Major League Baseball pitcher
Andres Feliz College basketball player for the University of Illinois
Jason Michaels Former Major League Baseball outfielder
Alan Ritchson Actor, singer-songwriter, model
Ray Sansom Former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives
Donell Taylor Former professional basketball player for the Washington Wizards
Branden Vincent Former college basketball player for Mississippi State University

Incidents

On April 11, 2009, a lone gunman shot a vending machine maintenance worker at the center in DeFuniak Springs. The victim was shot twice in the chest and died from his injuries.[17] The suspect, Thomas McCoy, a former co-worker of the victim, was apprehended and charged and found guilty of first degree murder.[18]

Between May 21, 2012, and September 24, 2012, a large-scale security breach occurred at the college. The personal information of nearly 300,000 people, including 200,000 who had no connection to the institution, was stolen. Leaked information included names, Social Security numbers, birthdates, gender, and ethnicity as well as payroll and direct deposit information. No one was ever charged in the attack.[19]

References

  1. ↑ "Leadership". Northwest Florida State College.
  2. ↑ "IPEDS Data Center". nces.ed.gov.
  3. ↑ "Northwest Florida State College". FloridaShines.
  4. ↑ "The 2000's". www.nwfsc.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  5. ↑ "The 1960's". www.nwfsc.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  6. ↑ "The 1980's". www.nwfsc.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  7. ↑ "Florida College Pilot Project, June 2008". Archived from the original on 2019-01-01. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  8. ↑ "College Campuses and Centers - Northwest Florida State College - Acalog ACMS™". catalog.nwfsc.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  9. ↑ "The Collegiate High School At NWFSC Welcomes Inaugural Freshman Class". Northwest Florida State College. 2022-08-22. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  10. ↑ "Collegiate High School at Northwest Florida State College". chs.nwfsc.edu. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  11. ↑ "NBRS Collegiate High School at Northwest Florida State College of Niceville, FL". National Blue Ribbon Schools Program. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  12. ↑ "National Blue Ribbon Schools Program". portal.nationalblueribbonschools.ed.gov. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  13. ↑ "Mattie Kelly Arts Center at Northwest Florida State College: General Information". Archived from the original on 2010-05-27. Retrieved 2010-07-25.
  14. ↑ "Art Galleries". Mattie Kelly Arts Center. 2022. Retrieved 2022-01-30.
  15. ↑ "Organization of NJCAA Regions". NJCAA. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  16. ↑ Thompson, Jim. "'The true home': Northwest Florida State College gets piece of historic Doolittle Raider bomber". Northwest Florida Daily News.
  17. ↑ "Murder Suspect Being Sought". www.sheriff-okaloosa.org. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  18. ↑ McLaughlin, Tom. "Thomas McCoy death sentence upheld". Northwest Florida Daily News. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  19. ↑ Bolkan, Joshua (2012-10-17). "Northwest Florida State College Data Breach Compromises 300,000 Students and Employees". Campus Technology. Retrieved 2021-03-03.

30°32′22″N 86°28′32″W / 30.5394163°N 86.475644°W / 30.5394163; -86.475644

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