New vet tech addition officially open

Braswell Family Farms President Scott Braswell fought back tears when speaking last week to a gathering at the dedication just outside Nash Community College’s new veterinary medical technician building.

“We’re proud of this building,” Braswell said Friday morning of the structure, which is named in honor of his family.

During his remarks, Braswell emphasized that his name and his wife’s name, Mary Lou Braswell, are on very few places and buildings.

“We’re background people,” Scott Braswell said. “We support from the back — and we don’t like to put our names up on something.”

Braswell said that Braswell Family Farms and the egg and feed company’s employees, “not just Mary Lou and I,” but also the people who have been with the business for so long made this possible.

“Yeah, I get emotional,” he said. “I love the people that work for us. I love Nash County. We love doing what we can.”

The new building is serving as an annex to provide more space for the community college’s veterinary medical technician program.

Generally, veterinary medical technicians assist veterinarians in preparing animals, equipment and medications for examination and surgery. They also collect specimens, perform laboratory, X-ray, anesthetic and dental procedures, assist in surgeries and provide proper husbandry of animals and their environment.

Construction of the annex began in March 2023 and cost $1.56 million, with the money provided from state capital and infrastructure funds, from Connect NC Bond funds for a variety of needs statewide and from donations.

The community college program has been and is going to continue to use renovated space in NCC’s Building D, which is next to the annex.

Minutes earlier at the dedication, NCC President Lew Hunnicutt expressed appreciation to Scott Braswell and to Mary Lou Braswell for providing the donation “that put us over the top to be able to make this day happen.”

Additionally, Hunnicutt said that the couple has established an endowment because the veterinary medical technician students, when they get to their second year, must be vaccinated against rabies.

Hunnicutt said that the gift was desperately needed because a series of such inoculation costs are high.

Hunnicutt also expressed appreciation to Danny Tyson, who is a former Nash County commissioner, and to Tyson’s wife, Jane, for providing support for the construction of the annex.

Other speakers at the dedication included Nash County Board of Commissioners Chairman Robbie Davis, who is in the construction business.

Davis, noting he had on Thursday attended the graduation ceremony for NCC’s electric line construction technology program, said, “It’s just amazing what goes on out here on this acreage that we have accumulated.”

“I, because of my own background, am so pleased to see people get an education and immediately go to work using their hands,” Davis said.

Shortly after the dedication began, Hunnicutt also recognized Tammie Clark, who retired from serving as NCC’s chief academic officer. Hunnicutt emphasized that Clark was at the community college when the long process of getting the veterinary medical technology program in place was started.

Clark in an interview after the dedication said that the idea to explore having the program began in 2014, when then-NCC President Bill Carver was at the helm.

Clark said that the front-end work included bringing in veterinarians from Nash and Wilson counties and touring other veterinary medical technician programs.

“And, so, yeah, it’s been a decade, a full decade, from initial concept to final completion with this last part of this building here,” Clark said.

As she spoke, Clark was smiling — and she said she was elated.

“This is wonderful,” she said.

N.C. Rep. Allen Chesser, R-25th District, said after the dedication that it’s not surprising that, under Hunnicutt’s leadership, Nash Community College is continuing to address issues in the community and create opportunities for local young people to be successful.

“And it’s even less surprising who came in to support this project,” Chesser said.

Specifically, Chesser said, “The Braswells and the Tysons are always on the front lines, generally behind the scenes, with the charitable efforts. They’re great community partners. They treat everybody like family.”

Of the new building, he said, “We’re going to be able to take advantage of this for a long time — and it’s a huge win for the community.”