<em>Photo above: TCL President Richard Bough, right, cuts a piece of birthday cake for Morgan Laird, 17, the youngest student in attendance Monday for the ceremony. Photos by Bob Sofaly.</em>

<a href="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/TCL-Anniversary-logo.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-34891"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-34891" src="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/TCL-Anniversary-logo.jpg" alt="150 seal" width="542" height="542"></a>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">TCL honors 150<sup>th</sup> anniversary of The Mather School and 50 years of community college</h2>
Technical College of the Lowcountry students and staff marked the college’s yearlong anniversary celebration on Monday, January 29 with a cake-cutting at each of its campuses in Beaufort, Bluffton and Hampton.

TCL shares its mission of education with The Mather School, which opened in 1868 to educate the daughters of freed slaves during Reconstruction. For 100 years, this extraordinary establishment educated and empowered countless individuals. In 1968, the property was given to the state of South Carolina and eventually became TCL, your community college.

<b>Over the last 50 years, TCL has welcomed more than 85,000 students from Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper counties, and beyond.</b>

The public is invited to the President’s State of the College Address at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, February 8 at the New River Campus in Bluffton. Also, tickets are now available for purchase for the Mather School Alumni sesquicentennial celebrations in February.

Please visit www.tcl.edu/2018 for details.

[caption id="attachment_34888" align="aligncenter" width="2781"]<a href="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/RES3168.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-34888"><img class="size-full wp-image-34888" src="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/RES3168.jpg" alt="Jessica Bridges, left, and Leigh Copeland unbox the traditional birthday cake, which was later cut during the anniversary ceremony of TCL on Monday, Jan. 29 in the school’s MacLean Hall." width="2781" height="2091"></a> Jessica Bridges, left, and Leigh Copeland unbox the traditional birthday cake, which was later cut during the anniversary ceremony of TCL on Monday, Jan. 29 in the school’s MacLean Hall.[/caption]
<h3 style="text-align: center;">2018 Anniversary Events</h3>
<p style="text-align: center;"><b>President’s State of the College Address
</b>5:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 8, Bluffton New River Campus</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><b>Mather presents An Evening of Jazz with the Earl Fleming Trio featuring Marlena Smalls</b>
7 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 22, TCL Beaufort Campus&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><b>Mather History &amp; Education Day</b>
Friday, Feb. 23, TCL Beaufort Campus</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><b>Mather presents the Sesquicentennial Semi-Formal Gala with the Lavon Stevens Band</b>
7 p.m., Friday, Feb. 23, Beaufort Holiday Inn&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><b>Mather presents the Sesquicentennial Luncheon Celebration</b>
Noon, Saturday, Feb. 24, Beaufort Holiday Inn&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><b>College Commencement</b>
6 p.m., Friday, May 11, Beaufort Waterfront Park</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><b>50th Anniversary Dinner &amp; Gala</b>
Thursday, Sept. 20</p>