Sam and Arlene Crockett and Frank Akers were among some of the first students to enroll at Wytheville Community College.
When Sam Crockett graduated from George Wythe High School in 1963, he decided to stay in his hometown to further his education, becoming one of the first students to walk the halls of Wytheville Community College.
WCC opened its doors Sept. 19, 1963, welcoming Crockett and 106 other students, mostly men along with a handful of women. The campus was not where it is now; instead, it was in the Simmerman Building at 275 Fourth Street, later used as office buildings. The current campus was established several years later, in 1968, with the opening of Fincastle Hall, named in honor of Fincastle County, Virginia, which was the mother county of all counties included in the Wytheville Community College service region at the time.
“The school was here and available, and it cost a lot less money, so we went,” Crockett said.
At the time, WCC was a satellite branch of Virginia Tech, where many students like Crockett transferred for their junior and senior years. Four years later, in 1967, WCC became part of the Virginia Community College System (VCCS).
Like many of his classmates, Crockett transferred to Virginia Tech, but was forced to drop out after breaking several bones in his back in a sledding accident. Once he recovered from his injuries, Crockett served for the military in aviation in Vietnam. Following his military career, Crockett worked as a dispatcher for Fed Ex and later became an air traffic controller. He then returned home to Wythe County, where he owned and operated a clothing store before being elected as the Wythe County Treasurer, a post he held for nearly 30 years.
Years after Crockett graduated from WCC, his wife, Arlene, attended classes not once, but twice, on the current campus. Valedictorian of her 1975 Bland County High School class, she was a non-traditional student and mother when she started classes six years later.
“I needed something to challenge my mind,” she said, adding that she studied data processing one class at a time, from 1981 to 1988. Several years later, in 1995, she earned a business administration degree, transferred to Virginia Tech to receive a bachelor’s degree, and has enjoyed a career as an accountant.
“WCC fit me perfectly, and allowed me to take classes at night,” she said, adding that she also enjoyed membership in several campus clubs, including the Business Administration Club that helped build Wythe County’s Ager Playground in the early 1990s. She also enjoyed mentoring and tutoring children at the Presbyterian Children’s Home.
The Crocketts applaud the college’s partnership with the Wythe-Bland Foundation to offer the Wythe-Bland Scholarship, that helps eligible high school students attend WCC tuition-free.
“It gives the opportunity to attend college to students who might otherwise not be able to attend,” Arlene Crocket said. “It’s a win-win in all situations.”
The year Sam Crockett graduated from WCC, Frank Akers of Rural Retreat started classes at the college.
“Cost was a big factor,” Akers said of his decision to attend a community college. “Tuition was less than $100 a quarter.”
The year was 1965 and Akers wanted to be a pharmacist, so he majored in chemistry.
“A bunch of us from high school came to WCC,” he said. “I was the only one not studying engineering. By the second week, they had changed their majors. They found the math daunting. I was one of the few who stuck with my original major.”
One of Akers’ WCC classmates, Rex Frye, remembers attending classes in the Simmerman Building, spending hours at the drafting tables where he learned skills he still uses today. He also remembers drafts of another kind – the chilly winds that blew through the classroom when English Instructor Mava Vass threw open her windows in the wintertime.
“She would freeze us to death,” he said.
For years following his 1967 WCC graduation, Frank Akers taught high school science. Then life took a turn, and Akers became a businessman and entrepreneur in the fields of fiber optics and telecommunications. He now splits his time between California and Rural Retreat, where he is president of The Rural Retreat Depot Foundation.
Akers has fond memories of his time at WCC.
He remembers Professor of Engineering, Marshall Magnuson, standing with his back to the blackboard and throwing chalk over his shoulder to demonstrate random points.
“He would throw the chalk and start an equation from where the chalk hit the blackboard,” said Akers, who also served as his sophomore class president – but not of his own making.
“Some friends put me on the ballot, and I didn’t even know it,” he explained. “I walked onto campus and everyone was congratulating me.”
A popular student, Akers enjoyed making new friends from rival high schools.
“You learn these people are just like you; they have the same struggles,” he said. “I used to think of attending a community college as a negative, but it’s just the opposite. We all worked while we were in school; we weren’t just dedicated to college. We learned a lot of life lessons out of that experience. We learned the value of hard work and a strong work ethic.”
“WCC is great,” Akers added. “It’s a local college where you can go inexpensively. It has allowed a lot of people to go to college who could not have gone, and it was just a great experience.”
WCC will continue to celebrate its 60th anniversary over the next few months. If you graduated from WCC and would like to share your story, please go to WCC’s webpage and provide your information in this link, https://www.wcc.vccs.edu/wcc-alumni-success-stories. You may also contact Deanna Bradberry, WCC Public Relations and Development Coordinator, at the WCC Educational Foundation office at (276) 223-4880, or dbradberry@wcc.vccs.edu.
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