SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- As Kanawha Valley Community and Technical College prepares to move to the West Virginia Regional Technology Park, officials for both are excited by what that means for each other.

The school will move to Building 2000 in the tech park this June. Classes will begin there in the fall.

Having a community college --and a trained workforce -- is likely to draw new businesses to the tech park, KVCTC President Joseph Badgley said.

"Part of what community colleges do is grow the workforce and attract business and industry," he said. "If I'm a person out there and I'm being courted to locate in the tech park and someone tells me that there's a community and technical college right there in the middle of the tech park, that's going to make a huge difference to me."

For the community college, moving into Building 2000 means a space newly-renovated to suit the needs of the students and faculty. The new building will have around 30,000 more square feet than the school's old campus, located at West Virginia State University in Institute.

There will be room for the school to expand the number of students in classes.

"We'll occupy the south and the west wings of the building," Badgley said. "It's being designed to meet the needs of community college students -- labs aimed at the teaching of those skills that employers need, open computer labs in the morning when we open until night when we close."

When it was located at West Virginia State University, the school went by the name West Virginia State Community and Technical College. In 2008, state lawmakers passed separated the state's community colleges from their four-year institutions.

Phil Halstead, the tech park's executive director, said having the school there is a good thing for everyone involved.

"It will be good for the industrial tenants already in the park and future occupants to have these students in the park," Halstead said.

Bridgemont Community and Technical College is already teaching diesel classes in the park and looking to add more classes, Halstead said.

The college will bring 1,700 students plus staff, which will have an impact on local businesses and restaurants in South Charleston, Mayor Frank Mullens said.

"It's a good thing for South Charleston, there's no doubt about it," Mullens said.

Community and technical colleges can have a major impact on the local and state economy because they train the workforce with the skills that employers are looking for, Badgely said. Community colleges prepare workers with middle skills -- which are one step above what a career and technical school offers and below what is offered at a four-year college.

Ninety percent of people who are educated at a community and technical college in West Virginia stay and work here, Badgley said.

"I think as people begin to focus more on the economy and on jobs, they're going to begin to see the value in community colleges," he said. "Nationally, right now, there are millions of jobs that are going wanting because the people that are applying for them don't have the skills that employers are looking for."

The chemical industry, for instance, had been in need of qualified workers, he said. Three years ago, some chemical companies moved to the area expecting that with the valley's history of chemical companies, there would be workers qualified to fill the positions.

"Well, there weren't," Badgley said. "They were retired and they liked retirement. They didn't want to come back to work. So they needed a program to train chemical operators."

KVCTC met with company officials and ultimately developed a program to suit the company's needs.

The demand for those trained with the school as chemical operators is still high, Badgely said.

"The industry is growing in the state," he said. "You look at MATRIC and some of the other businesses that are growing in the valley and at the tech park. There's going to be a lot of demand for it."

A cracker built in the area would only increase that demand, he said.

"What the cracker does is produce a number of byproducts that then have to be further refined and reduced to create other products and those chemical operators are what is needed to work with the product that's created," he said.

The school's health care program is also in demand, he said.

At KVCTC, the average student is a 28-year-old female going to school part-time, supporting at least one family member and working at least one part-time job, Badgley said. The school offers the flexibility to do that, he said.

"[Community colleges] are often referred to as the door step to the American dream to get that good-paying job with benefits that enables them to support their family and get that better life for themselves," Badgley said. "That's what community colleges are all about."

Reach Lori Kersey at lori.ker...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1240.