The Lamar Salter Campus in Leesville is now officially a branch of the Sowela Technical Community College as of July 1.

The acquisition was first announced last spring and last month, the campus received its official accreditation.

The Leesville campus is now the third Sowela satellite campus , and will now fall under the same Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges accreditation as the other campuses. Lamar Salter previously participated in Council on Occupational Education accreditation, which often had a difficult transferability rate for students.

This is welcome news for Vernon Parish students, but is especially exciting news for the Fort Polk community. The Lamar Salter campus has for years provided workforce development programs to soldiers preparing for the transition from active-duty to the civilian workforce.

Last year, Chancellor Neil Aspinwall spoke on those opportunities for service men and women and the potential growth for those programs.

“Already a military friendly campus, Sowela will be positioned to work closer with Fort Polk and provide training programs specifically for active-duty soldiers, as well as soldiers transitioning out of the military,” Aspinwall said.

Chairman of the Louisiana Armed Forces Alliance, formerly Fort Polk Progress, Rick Allen said the acquisition would be a highlight of the efforts that have been made over the years by the LAFA to improve educational opportunities for Fort Polk families.

“The LAFA board and I are so thankful that Sowela could see the value in the investment they made in our community. Lamar Salter has been a solid partner, but with the expansion of programs offered by Sowela we are absolutely sure that the military families at Fort Polk can get the training they need to go into the fields of their choice right here in Vernon Parish, if they choose. We are honored to retain the heroes from Fort Polk as permanent members of our community,” Allen said.