The Birmingham-Southern Coast Guard training center has graduated its first class, marking another major milestone just three months after the federal service officially opened its new national training hub in Birmingham.

29 Coast Guard members completed the Leadership and Management School at Training Center Birmingham-Southern on Friday, becoming the first service members to graduate from a course on the former college campus.

The week-long program prepares enlisted Coast Guard personnel for positions carrying greater responsibility and accountability, with students refining leadership skills, practicing decision-making and preparing for senior enlisted roles.

“Today’s graduation is just the beginning for TRACEN Birmingham-Southern and the Coast Guard,” Rear Adm. Matthew Brown, commander of Coast Guard Force Readiness Command, said at the ceremony.

“TRACEN Birmingham-Southern offers a larger home base for FORCECOM, and as the Enlisted Leadership Center of Excellence, offers additional capacity to develop the leaders our servicemembers need, and the American people demand, from their Coast Guard.”

The milestone comes after the Coast Guard officially opened the training center in June, repurposing the 192-acre campus that Birmingham-Southern College occupied until its closure in 2024.

The federal government completed its $126.5 million acquisition of the campus earlier this year after the property was selected from dozens of potential sites nationwide.

The Coast Guard plans to make Birmingham-Southern the new home of its Force Readiness Command, which is relocating from Norfolk, Virginia, as well as its Leadership Development Center, which is moving from New London, Connecticut. More than 30 permanent personnel have already transitioned to Birmingham, including Brown.

Several thousand active-duty Coast Guard personnel are eventually expected to rotate through courses in Birmingham each year, with approximately 300 Coast Guard staff and 100 civilian contractors expected to operate the facility full-time.

The center is part of the Coast Guard’s broader effort to expand its force and training capacity under its Force Design 2028 strategy.

For the former Birmingham-Southern campus, Friday’s graduation also marked its return to the purpose it served for generations: educating and preparing students for what comes next.

The Coast Guard described the 29 graduates as “the first to claim Birmingham-Southern as their training ground.”

Sawyer Knowles is a state and political reporter for Yellowhammer News. You may contact him at [email protected].