$100,000 was donated to the school to establish the Cotton Center for Real Estate Studies at Cape Cod Community College, that is what was reported On Tuesday. The college announced that John and Ann Marie Cotton donated the sum of money.
Jack Cotton, who recently sold Cotton Real Estate, the business he established 31 years ago, said "I want to give back to the business."
Cotton, a native Cape Codder, added "You think back to your early childhood memories. You can think about the shadows on the wall in your bedroom, the creak on the floor when someone passed nearby. It's where you celebrated births, it's where you mourned a death in your family. Its' your oasis from the storms of life" for him, real estate was never about dollars and cents; it was about people and what a home means to them.
Elevating the level of professionalism is something he hopes the Cotton Center can do, and while the passion he feels for his vocation may not be easy to pass on in a college curriculum. He said "The more competent people are in the business, the more the public benefits."
The program has yet to be developed but college president Kathleen Schatzberg said the college doesn't plan on offering a degree program at this time. The Cotton Center will be housed within the college's Workforce Education Resource Center under the direction of Lois Andre.
She said "People in the profession are not telling us they want a degree," Future courses could include goal-setting, marketing and finance as well as an annual speaker series. What they will do is expand what is already being offered, which now includes courses in licensing, continuing education and appraisal.
By: Dijon Wainwright
http://www.realestateportal.org/article.php?story=20060224134425766