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Today we welcomed representatives from Century College - Randy Johnson, Director of Donor Relations for their Foundation, and Scott Randall, an instructor in their Solar Power program. From Randy we learned a bit about Century's 50-year history. Formerly known as Lakewood State Junior College, Century opened its doors in September of 1967 to 500 students. Today Century serves over 21,000 students each year, offering a variety of degrees, diplomas, certificates and courses. A primary benefit of attending a Community College such as Century is cost savings. A student who opts to get a 2 year degree from Century, then transfer to a College or University to complete a 4 year degree can save up to $75,000 in tuition cost! Another benefit is the ability to be trained in an area that may not be offered by a traditional university. Scott Randall provided a great example of that. Century's Solar Power program cannot begin to crank out enough graduates to fill the demand in this extremely fast-growing industry. The job growth in this field is currently 90 times higher than the overall rate of job growth in Minnesota! Scott frightened us all with pictures of the latest in self-driving 18-wheelers. As hard as it still is to imagine, this is but one example of the future that is fast upon us. We are moving to renewable energy sources in all aspects of daily living and Century College is playing a part by identifying job needs and working to fill those unmet needs.