Edwards marks Center of Excellence grand opening

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Stacy Sanchez
  • 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Dreams became a reality as Team Edwards and the Muroc Joint Unified School District gathered together to mark the grand opening of the Center of Excellence here Jan. 22. 

The Center of Excellence is an education center that will cater to adults and both middle school and high school students for educational advancements. 

"Through the effort of more than 100 volunteers, we have managed to see our aspirations become a reality at the Center of Excellence," said Cathi Cleveland, 95th Contracting Squadron business operations director and Muroc School-Improvement Partnership president. "We've only just begun, but what a beginning it has been." 

The goal of the Center of Excellence is to offer improvements in the quality of education, Ms. Cleveland said. 

"We want to increase mentoring and tutoring opportunities, provide vocational education programs and supplement programs not offered by the district," she said. 

Membership is open to all parents, guardians and students enrolled in the district and whose parents and guardians work on base or district staff members. 

Twenty-nine colleges will be moving into the facility, one of which is going to be a virtual class -- another Air Force first, said Brig. Gen. David Eichhorn, Air Force Flight Test Center commander. 

The Center of Excellence will also allow students the opportunity to have tutoring and mentoring before and after school. 

"We are off to an excellent start here, said Col. Bryan Gallagher, 95th Air Base Wing commander. "If you walk around the Center of Excellence, you will see why parents and children are excited." 

Edwards now has a place for children to get advanced education and to get a head start, the Colonel said. 

"All of us together is better than any of us alone," said Henry Hearns, mayor of Lancaster, Calif. "We appreciate what Edwards and the Muroc School-Improvement Partnership is doing here." 

General Eichhorn said he wants to encourage children to do better. 

"We want to give them more tools and opportunities for success than we had when we were growing up," General Eichhorn said. "What we've done here is given them a place for centralized learning and tutoring."