HERNANDO COUNTY, Fla. — Suncoast Technical Education Center is expanding and becoming a technical college with its very own stand-alone building.

Hernando County school board members and county leaders came together with other organizers to break ground on the new location last week.

Organizers say this has been a project they started working on years ago. 

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed things back but they say they couldn’t be happier to break ground on the project.

The new technical training complex will help propel Hernando County's workforce.

Sophia Watson will be the head of the new program.

“This has been missing in Hernando County," she said. "Everyone has a tech college except for us and it wasn’t fair for our students, it wasn’t fair for our community members. When people move in, they look for this. Thank God we have people that really truly believe in our vision, and because without them none of them would’ve been possible.”

Courses offered will help train skilled workers and have them stay in the county.

School board member Jimmy Lodato has been a big part of bringing the center to the county. He said they hope to start offering courses by August 2023.