MGCCC holds ribbon cutting for new athletic facility

PERKINSTON, Miss. (WLOX) - Campus leaders at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College held a ribbon cutting in front of the school’s newest sports venue, the Dantzler Arena.

This arena is the latest in a series of investments made at the Perkinston campus.

Its namesake is Alfred Dantzler III, a longtime supporter of MGCCC and its students. He said he’s happy his family’s scholarship fund has paved the way for the establishment of this new facility.

“I’m glad to help them,” Dantzler said. “I don’t know what to say; I’m glad to help them.”

Women’s basketball coach Hope Adams said her team is adjusting to the new arena very well.

“I’m ecstatic about the new place,” Adams said. “I would say we have definitely created a home-court advantage. The atmosphere is electric; it’s been great for recruiting.”

The campus also recently built a new residence hall, a new baseball and soccer field, and a new entrance road called Perkinston Boulevard.

President Mary Graham said she thinks the investment for these new amenities is paying off for the Coast and the state.

“It’s really been a cobbling of funds. We’ve gotten grant funds, we’ve gotten state funds,” Graham said. “We’ve gotten local funds, and so it’s really a great partnership between all these entities to support their local community college. We feel like we have state-of-the-art athletics facilities. We want students to choose Gulf Coast.”

Coach Adams said she thinks the future inside this new gym is bright for her team.

“It just makes you excited when you walk through the door; it makes you want to win,” she said. “That’s what we want to do, we want to win because we’ve been provided with a great facility.”

The community college has invested $52 million in the past three years to the campus to make life better for students.

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