Northwest Florida State College is a public college in Niceville, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System. NWFSC was founded in 1963 as Okaloosa-Walton Junior College, with its campus in Valparaiso, Florida; students started class the next year. A permanent campus in Niceville was built and started serving students with the 1969–70 academic year. The school voted to change its name to Okaloosa-Walton Community College in 1988, and gained four-year status in 2003, thus changing its name to Okaloosa-Walton College. In June 2008, Governor Charlie Crist signed a bill that allowed several community colleges, including OWC, to offer four-year degrees and be considered part of Florida's upper education under the newly formed Florida College Pilot Project, making OWC one of the state colleges in Florida. Due to the change, school officials elected to once again change the name, this time to Northwest Florida State College. NWFSC also has a charter high school called the Collegiate High School at Northwest Florida State College, which opened in 2000.
Collegiate High School at Northwest Florida State College
The Collegiate High School at Northwest Florida State College is a charter school in Niceville, Florida, established in 2000, that enables 10th-, 11th-, and 12th-grade students to simultaneously earn both a standard high school diploma and a transferable two-year college degree or transferable college credits. The CHS is a public school and is free of charge to students. College-credit classes, college and high school textbooks, provision for transportation, use of a personal laptop computer, tutoring, and more are all provided at no cost. Students are also allowed to participate in college activities including sports, the Raider Rhythms dance team, and the college's Student Government Association. In 2005, Lyndsi Thomas, a CHS senior, was one of thirty students in Florida selected to the First Team All-State of the All Florida Academic Team. Elected as president of the college's Student Government Association in 2004, Lyndsi was also the only SGA president at a Florida college who was a high school student. The Collegiate High School at Northwest Florida State College has been named a "2006 No Child Left Behind - Blue Ribbon School", among 250 nationwide and 12 from Florida. Charla Cotton was the original director. She retired in 2011, and Anthony Boyer was named director. Information about the faculty and staff is available on the NWFCHS website. CHS was named #1 school in Florida for the 2010–2011 school year and a U.S. Department of EducationNational Blue Ribbon School in 2013.
Mattie Kelly Arts Center
The Mattie Kelly Arts Center is a $25 million performing arts and educational complex that hosts Broadway's best touring shows, visiting artists, dance and opera companies. The complex encompasses a 1,650-seat mainstage theater which accommodates touring Broadway shows, the 195-seat, flexible Sprint Theater, an art wing with two galleries, a music wing, a visual arts building and the beautiful NWF State College amphitheater.
