President Bobbie Knight Leads Transformative Investment collaboration with Lawson State, Stillman College and Bessemer City High School

Miles College President Dr. Bobbie Knight joined Mayor Gulley, Bessemer City Schools Superintendent, Milean Michael Turner, The Same House, QTS Data Centers, and education partners Lawson State Community College and Stillman College for the launch of Bessemer Built, a transformative collaboration designed to expand educational access, career pathways, and opportunities for students in the Bessemer community.

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The initiative represents more than a financial investment in students. It reflects a shared commitment to ensuring that young people have the resources, relationships, and opportunities necessary to pursue higher education, enter meaningful careers, and contribute to the communities that shaped them.

“I am honored to be here with you for this transformative investment in our young people,” said Dr. Knight. “This moment is about more than a scholarship. It’s about belief in young people.”

Dr. Knight emphasized that Bessemer has never lacked talent or potential. Instead, the challenge has been creating pathways that connect that potential to opportunity.

“Students should be able to live, learn, and succeed in the community that raised them,” she said. “Talent has never been the question here; Bessemer has it in abundance. The question has always been whether the pathways match the potential. Today, we start closing that gap.”

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Through Bessemer Built, students and families can gain greater access to opportunities that can help transform their educational and economic futures. For students, that may mean making college attainable. For families, it can provide hope and stability. For the broader community, it represents an investment in a stronger future.

But Dr. Knight stressed that access is only the beginning.

“Students must persist, graduate, and step into careers that matter,” she said, highlighting the importance of internships, mentorship, career development, and meaningful connections to employers.

At Miles College, that philosophy is central to the institution’s approach to preparing students for an evolving workforce. As technology, data, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity continue to reshape industries, Dr. Knight believes students must be prepared not simply to enter these fields, but to lead them.

“I want students from Bessemer to become the programmers, entrepreneurs, educators, and innovators of fields that don’t even have names yet,” Dr. Knight said.

She also encouraged students to recognize that success does not require choosing between global opportunity and local impact.

“They do not have to choose between global opportunity and local impact. They can have both,” she said. “That is the promise of Bessemer Built.”

Achieving that vision will require sustained collaboration among schools, colleges, industry, government, and community organizations. Dr. Knight recognized the collective work of the partners involved, including Dr. Cynthia Anthony and Dr. Yolanda Page, as critical to building a stronger educational pipeline for Bessemer students.

She also delivered a message directly to the students at the center of the initiative: their circumstances should never determine the limits of their ambitions.

“Do not let anyone define your future by your ZIP code,” Dr. Knight said. “Work hard. Stay focused. Take every opportunity that’s placed in front of you. And when you succeed, reach back and bring someone with you.”

For a city known for its history of industry, resilience, and innovation, Dr. Knight said Bessemer Built represents another opportunity to build — this time, by investing in the next generation.

“Bessemer has always been a city of builders,” she said. “Today, we build access. We build pathways. We build opportunity for the next generation.”

Miles College is proud to stand alongside its partners in advancing that mission and creating new possibilities for students throughout the Bessemer community.

“When we invest in young people, we invest in stronger families, stronger communities, and a stronger and smarter Alabama,” Dr. Knight said.