UMO Hosts Groundbreaking Celebration for New Educational Livestock Facility
October 29, 2025
Contact: Rhonda Jessup, Director of Public Relations
MOUNT OLIVE, NC – On October 29, the University of Mount Olive (UMO) hosted a groundbreaking celebration for its new Educational Livestock Facility, marking another milestone in the University’s expanding investment in hands-on agricultural education and community engagement.
Due to inclement weather, the ceremony was held indoors at the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission (NCTTFC) Agricultural Commodity Building, located at the Kornegay Student Farm on 408 Garner Chapel Road in Mount Olive. The event included a mock-groundbreaking ceremony and luncheon attended by approximately 100 guests, including donors, legislators, alumni, faculty, staff, students, and friends of the University.
UMO President Dr. H. Edward Croom welcomed guests and expressed appreciation for the supporters and partners who helped bring the project to life. “Today represents much more than turning the soil for a new building,” Croom said. “It represents turning opportunity into action, creating spaces where our students can learn by doing and where education connects directly to community and industry. This is what it means to transform lives through learning.”
Dr. Sandy Maddox, Special Projects Coordinator for the University, shared the project’s history and scope. She noted that the new facility, located on UMO’s Shady Grove Road property, builds upon the legacy of the Kornegay Student Farm, established in 2014 through the generosity of George R. Kornegay, Jr. and family, and later expanded through a 2017 gift of a 79-acre farm from the family of the late Lorrelle Martin, a beloved UMO biology professor.
“The new facility is designed to provide multispecies, hands-on animal training unlike anything else in the region,” Maddox said. “Phase One includes 34,000 square feet of educational and livestock-handling space, while future phases will expand into small animal handling facilities and commodity processing space.” Maddox recognized key contributors to the project’s planning and design, including David Herring, Bryan Blinson, Stephen Broadwell, Stuart Jennings, and Jackson Builders, as well as UMO faculty and staff who provided input and expertise.
Dr. Steve Matthis, Dean of the School of Agriculture and Biological Sciences, emphasized the facility’s impact on student learning. “Many of our students come to UMO without a farming background,” Matthis said. “Our goal is to give them real-world experiences that prepare them for successful agricultural careers. This facility will allow students to work safely with multiple species while earning certifications and developing valuable workforce skills.”
UMO junior Hannah Schmidt, a Veterinary Bioscience major from Nash County, shared her excitement from a student’s perspective. “This new facility will allow students like me to connect classroom learning with real-life experience,” she said. “It’s going to make our education more practical, more engaging, and more impactful.”
Dr. Steven Brake, CEO and CFO of the North Carolina Center for Poultry Education, spoke about the broader importance of collaboration. “This project represents what can happen when universities, industry, and community come together with a shared mission to teach, to innovate, and to serve,” he said. “The Educational Livestock Facility is an investment in people. It’s about preparing a workforce that understands agriculture from the ground up.”
Director of the Lois G. Britt Agribusiness Center Edward Olive, said, “As both an alumnus and an employee, it’s been amazing to see the transformation of facilities that provide spaces for students to gain real-world experience.” “This new Educational Livestock Facility will serve as a learning hub not only for our students, but also for the agricultural community through outreach and training. It reflects our ongoing partnerships with FFA, 4-H, commodity associations, and other organizations to promote awareness, education, and understanding of agriculture.”
Funding for the facility has been made possible in part through generous support from B & S Enterprises, Golden LEAF Foundation, NC Farm Bureau, North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission, Paul and Cynthia Dunn with Mule City Specialty Feeds, and the North Carolina General Assembly. “We are deeply grateful for the commitment of these partners who believe in the power of agricultural education,” said Croom. “Their generosity is helping to lay the foundation for a facility that will not only benefit our students but also serve farmers, educators, and communities across North Carolina. As this project continues to take shape, we welcome additional partners to join us in bringing this vision to full fruition.”
The celebration concluded with a mock-groundbreaking photo opportunity and an invitation for guests to tour the Educational Livestock Facility site, located at 385 Shady Grove Road in Mount Olive, at a later date.
The University of Mount Olive is a private institution rooted in the liberal arts tradition with defining Christian values. The University was founded by the Convention of Original Free Will Baptists. For more information, visit www.umo.edu.
