Jimmy Hodges became president of Calhoun Community College two years ago.

A machinist by trade, he spent years in the Huntsville area making space shuttle and Tomahawk cruise missile parts.

“I always dreamed of being a teacher,” he told the Lede.

In 2000, he received a call from the Earnest Pruett Center of Technology in Hollywood, Alabama, about a drafting teaching position. Hodges had attended classes at the center when he was in high school.

Hodges went to Athens State University and received a teaching degree. He taught high school drafting for about nine years. He later served as technical dean at Wallace State-Hanceville for 11 years.