Polk State College celebrates 60 years of excellence

As the 2024 calendar year ends, Polk State College reflects on 60 years of excellence.

Opened in 1964, the College has more than 60,000 alumni. This includes numerous healthcare and public safety professionals, teachers, entrepreneurs, and community leaders who serve right here in Polk County.

Today, Polk State is Polk County’s largest-serving higher education and workforce training institution with more than 13,000 degree-seeking students and 9,000 individuals in short-term workforce training annually. About 70% of students remain in Polk County after graduation.

“Celebrating 60 years of transforming lives through quality higher education, Polk State College remains a pillar of our region’s growth and prosperity—empowering students, fueling economic development, and paving the way for a brighter, more innovative future,” President Dr. Angela Garcia Falconetti said.

The first classes were held six decades ago at Bartow Air Base. Then, the College served 1,200 students – twice the expected amount. For the 2023-2024 Academic Year, the College served more than 21,000 across its seven locations – nearly 18 times the original enrollment. And soon, an estimated 1,500 students annually will be served at the future Polk State Haines City-Davenport Campus. Its groundbreaking in November marked the College’s first public celebration of the 60th, culminating in April 2025 with the Polk State Foundation’s annual A Night of Legacy supporting the development.

“It’s wonderful to see the growth of the College—it’s great for Polk County as the people who graduate from Polk State go on to be seasoned professionals within our community,” said Dan Dorrell, a Distinguished Alumnus of Polk State’s first graduating class in 1966 who served as a member of the Polk State District Board of Trustees from 2011 to 2022. “When I started at what was then Polk Junior College, it wasn’t only a great opportunity, it was the only opportunity for students like me who couldn’t afford to go off to college. With Polk State, residents of Polk County know that they have a place to go and an opportunity that will set them up for success.”

A permanent campus

In 1966, ground was broken in Winter Haven on the shores of Lake Elbert for Polk State’s first permanent campus. Bringing the campus to fruition resulted from the benevolence of the residents of the historic Pughsville neighborhood.

“We want everyone to remember the neighborhood,” said Beulah Harvey-Clark, Historian for the nonprofit Historic Pughsville Association. “Pughsville gave Winter Haven a mayor, a fireman, and schoolteachers. There was a plethora of people from Pughsville who greatly contributed to this community.”

During a time of segregation, Pughsville schoolchildren would have to walk past white-only schools to Florence Villa. In-state higher education options were limited to then Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach and Florida A&M University in Tallahassee.

The rezoning in the 1970s made way for restaurants, big-box stores, and other businesses. However, the building of then Polk Junior College soon gave Black students an affordable, local option for higher education. Shortly after its inception, the College provided extracurricular activities for students such as student government, National Honor Society, and athletics. It changed its name to Polk Community College.

“Because of finances and transportation, many of us did not have access to college before Polk Community College,” Harvey-Clark recalled. “Once we received our two-year degrees, many of us went on to earn four-year degrees. Many people from Pughsville have been able to soar to higher heights because Polk State was here.”

The campus continued to expand to multiple buildings, increasing program offerings and providing flexibility to a growing and diverse student body.

“Seeing what Polk State has become gives us an enormous amount of pride for the sacrifices we made,” Harvey-Clark explained. “Polk State has continued to venture out to different parts of the county. The sacrifice continues to be felt today.

“We’ve always felt appreciated by Polk State,” Harvey-Clark concluded. “The relationship we have with Polk State has remained wonderful. Presidents and vice presidents of the College have opened their arms to us. We’re at FallFest every October. It’s been a wonderful, beautiful relationship.”

Expansion to West Polk

By the late 1980s, Polk State had expanded from the east side of Polk County to the west with the opening of the Lakeland Campus. Once an orange grove, the campus sits along U.S. 98 South. Today, it’s the most populated Polk State campus, serving nearly 9,000 students this Fall 2024 Semester alone.

The Lakeland Campus is now home to numerous Polk State programs, including Digital Media Technology, Respiratory Care, and Education.

“Winter Haven still has great foot traffic, but Lakeland serves a huge population,” said Chris Fullerton, a Polk State employee of nearly 30 years, archivist, and Director of the Winter Haven Campus Teaching Learning Computing Center (TLCC). “I wouldn’t be surprised to see it expand further. The possibilities are endless.”

In the years that followed, Polk State expanded to the south side of Lakeland with the Polk State Airside Center. With Airside Center East and West, the Center is home to the College’s Aerospace, Cardiovascular Technology, Diagnostic Medical Sonography, and Radiography programs.

The collegiate high school experience

Through its Dual Enrollment Program, Polk State has long allowed high school students throughout the county to earn college credits and boost their grade-point averages. In 2004, the College established its first collegiate high school, allowing students to simultaneously earn an Associate in Arts degree and high school diploma at no cost to them.

Polk State Lakeland Collegiate High School opened its proverbial doors on the Lakeland Campus in August 2004. Two years later, Polk State Chain of Lakes Collegiate High School opened on the Winter Haven Campus.

For the 2013-2014 Academic Year, the College chartered a third collegiate high school – Lakeland Gateway to College Collegiate High School. Its mission at the time was to serve students who had dropped out of — or were unlikely to graduate from — high school, helping them to earn both a high school diploma and substantial college credit.

Polk State’s collegiate high schools have proven wildly successful. Graduates have gone on to attend prestigious institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Ivy League schools, and the top law schools in the U.S. such as the University of Chicago.

“It’s successful because it offers students a real alternative to the traditional high school,” Lakeland Collegiate Principal Rick Jeffries said. “It allows academically focused students the chance to get ahead in their studies. With the tight-knit environment and small class sizes, they know they’re cared about.”

For the 2023-2024 Academic Year, nearly 70% of graduates from the three high schools earned an Associate in Arts degree. Earlier this year, Lakeland Collegiate was named the top public high school in Polk County by U.S. News & World Report. Previously serving just 11th and 12th-grade students, Lakeland Collegiate and Chain of Lakes expanded to serve high school sophomores for the first time this academic year.

Gateway serves students with at least 10 high school credits and has expanded its reach while maintaining the wraparound services that have contributed to the school’s reputation for success.

“Our focus is top-notch student service,” Jeffries added. “It’s been a great experiment, and our collegiate high schools will continue to thrive.”

From Polk Community to Polk State

Following a vote of the District Board of Trustees, Polk Community College officially became Polk State College on July 1, 2009. The change came after the Florida Legislature selected Polk State and eight other community colleges for a pilot project that allowed the now-state colleges to offer four-year degrees.

In January 2010, the College became a place where students could earn a bachelor’s degree. The Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS) in Supervision and Management served as the College’s first four-year degree program. It offered concentrations in Business Administration, Public Administration, and Public Safety Administration/Management.

The BAS in Supervision and Management has since added concentration tracks for Business Information Technology, Healthcare Administration, Human Resources Management, and Supply Chain Management. The BAS in Supervision and Management, however, is no longer the only bachelor’s degree available at Polk State.

The College has since expanded programming to include Bachelor of Science degrees in Aerospace Sciences, Criminal Justice, Elementary Education, Early Childhood Education, and Nursing.

In 2023, Polk State added the Associate in Science in Hospitality & Tourism Management Program, which provides students with foundational skills and knowledge in management, marketing, and procurement. Polk County welcomes more than 5 million visitors each year, according to the Central Florida Development Council, with attractions including LEGOLAND ® Florida Resort, Peppa Pig Theme Park, Bok Tower Gardens, and more.

With careers in these areas boasting median annual salaries of approximately $50,000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Polk State partnered with LEGOLAND ® Florida Resort in 2021 to create the Building Higher Scholarship Fund which provides scholarships to the College to the resort’s employees. Since its inception, more than 30 LEGOLAND ® Florida employees, or “Model Citizens,” have benefited from the program. In December 2023, Lilith Johansen, a Hotel Team Leader, became the first Model Citizen to graduate from the program.

Within the Bachelor of Science Program for Criminal Justice, Polk State launched a concentration in crime scene investigations in the Fall 2023 Semester. The curriculum is developed and taught by crime scene practitioners and can be completed completely online. While the bachelor’s degree program provides a broad overview of the interdisciplinary field of criminal justice from criminology, sociology, and psychology, to law, public policy, and causes and prevention of criminal behavior, this marked the first time the program is delved into a specific concentration.

Further expansion

More than two decades after expanding to Lakeland, Polk State continued to grow its footprint within the community. In 2009, Polk State added the JD Alexander Center in Lake Wales. Two years later, the Polk State Lake Wales Arts Center became the property of the College.

Polk State didn’t stop there.

In January 2014, the College added the Polk State Clear Springs Advanced Technology Center. The 45,000-square-foot facility off State Road 60 in Bartow houses high-tech degree programs and the Polk State Corporate College, which provides workforce training.

The endeavor was made possible by Clear Springs, a land company headed by chairman Stan Phelps. In 2008, Clear Springs donated $12 million and 20 acres of land to the Polk State College Foundation. The gift was the largest in the history of the Florida College System and served as the impetus for a years-long wave of giving. The Polk County Board of County Commissioners followed with a generous investment of $2.5 million to underwrite the infrastructure of the building.

Seven months later, the College broke ground on the Polk State Center for Public Safety, located on Jim Keene Boulevard next to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office Operation Center. The state-of-the-art workforce training facility opened in January 2016 as a home for the College’s Criminal Justice, and Emergency Medical Services programs as well as the nationally accredited Polk State Kenneth C. Thompson Institute of Public Safety.

“To see the Criminal Justice programs and the Police Academy go from the gym and our small obstacle course to the beautiful campus at CPS was amazing,” Fullerton noted. “It’s nice to see us keep some of the old fixtures that have been staples but also move into the next century. It’s a balance, but it can be done.”

In 2023, the Center for Public Safety became home to the National Innovation Public Safety Academy (NIA) – an eight-week STEM-based executive-level academy for law enforcement and corrections staff seeking to enter or enhance current or future command positions within their agencies. Launched in partnership between Polk State and the Sheriff’s Office, it is one of just three national command schools in the U.S.

Through four cohorts, participants from more than 20 states have learned leading-edge strategies that further the mission of their rapidly changing organizations from subject matter experts. As technology and trends change, NIA will evolve to stay at the forefront of the ever-changing world of public safety.

“People follow great leaders,” Polk Sheriff Grady Judd said during the first NIA graduation. “If we’re not leading, we’re allowing others to. We have to equip our leaders with the formal tools for the future. We must be the cream of the crop.”

Health Sciences

With new locations throughout the county came the expansion of programming, particularly the Health Sciences. With disciplines including Cardiovascular Technology, Diagnostic Medical Sonography, Emergency Medical Services, Nursing, Occupational Therapy Assistant, Physical Therapist Assistant, Radiography, and Respiratory Care, Polk State graduates are among the most sought-after locally in the healthcare field.

Recent graduates of the Diagnostic Medical Sonography, Nursing, Paramedic, Physical Therapist Assistant, Radiography, and Respiratory Care programs all achieved 100% pass rates on their licensure exams. Additionally,  Polk State Nursing graduates achieved 100% pass rates on the NCLEX licensure exam for the last three quarters of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024 – far exceeding national and state averages.

Beyond academic achievement, Polk State’s Health Sciences graduates are highly sought after by top providers such as AdventHealth, BayCare, Lakeland Regional Health, and Orlando Health. The College’s strong partnerships with these organizations ensure that students obtain a relevant education while making valuable connections to high-quality employment opportunities.

In 2022, AdventHealth pledged $1.7 million to endow the Dean of Nursing position at the College. A year later, BayCare and the College also launched an externship program for faculty to work at the bedside and bring back best practices to their students.

In addition to more than $1.33 million in state funding through the Prepping Institutions, Programs, Employers, and Learners through Incentives for Nursing Education (PIPELINE) program, AdventHealth, BayCare, Lakeland Regional Health, and Orlando Health have generously contributed to the State’s Linking Industry to Nursing Education (LINE) grant program, pledging a combined $140,000 to Polk State over the last two years, and an additional $145,000 for a third year of LINE funding. These funds, matched by the State, have led to the modernization of the Center for Interprofessional Human Simulation on our Lakeland and Winter Haven campuses, as well as enhanced clinical tutoring services for Nursing students.

Partnerships also thrive on real-world, hands-on training opportunities to prepare students to serve as highly skilled members of healthcare teams. In 2024, Polk State and Lakeland Regional Health partnered to produce the largest mass casualty incident scenario either organization had ever coordinated. The event culminated in hands-on experience and interdisciplinary training for more than 200 individuals, including resident doctors in Lakeland Regional Health’s Emergency Medicine Residency Program, students in Polk State’s Emergency Medical Services and Radiography programs, and high schoolers from Polk County Public Schools medical academies.

The Polk State Haines City-Davenport Campus

After 60 years, Polk State’s story is not anywhere close to finished. The next chapter, however, has just begun.

On Nov. 21, the College broke ground on the Haines City-Davenport Campus. The site is adjacent to AdventHealth Heart of Florida on 7.8 acres purchased by the College in 2009. The planned 75,000-square-foot facility will house Central Florida’s first public higher education interdisciplinary simulation hospital as well as Health Sciences, Supply Chain and Logistics, Supervision and Management, and Hospitality and Tourism Management programs. General Education courses for the Associate in Arts degree will also be available closer to home for residents of Northeast Polk.

Located in the fastest-growing area of Polk County and one of the fastest in the U.S., the campus will have 80,000 residents within a 10-mile radius whose current educational attainment is a high school diploma or some college, but no degree. The area has nearly 40% of all high school seniors in Polk County and a projection for 17,000 new jobs over the next 10 years.

Polk State continues to advocate for critical funding to complete the first phase of development for the Polk State Haines City-Davenport Campus. With the most recent allocation, the State of Florida has invested approximately $34.6 million since 2009 for this development. The College has also raised supporting funds through its annual A Night of Legacy gala and the generosity of donors – most notably Barney Barnett and his family who pledged $3 million to the project in April 2024.

“Polk State holds a long-standing reputation of excellence that our community members are quick to invest in because they understand firsthand the critical role of our College in the workforce and economic development of Polk County,” President Falconetti said. “As we reflect on 60 years of quality higher education for our County, I express sincerest gratitude for all who have made this possible, from our students, alumni, faculty, and staff; our generous donors and supporters; to the Polk County Legislative Delegation and District Board of Trustees— together, We are Polk.”