AUBURN — Central Maine Community College is taking on a more-global feeling with the announcement Tuesday that the college is now a place where citizens can get passports.

Becoming a passport facility approved by the U.S. State Department is in response to the college’s growing number of students from different countries or from immigrant families, said Heather Seymour, communications director at CMCC.

CMCC, which has a student population just shy of 3,000, does not have numbers on what countries students and faculty are from. But just as student populations at Lewiston High School and Edward Little High School have grown more global, so have CMCC students, where many local high school graduates enroll.

The number of flags hanging in the college’s Hall of Flags, which represent countries of students and faculty, has also grown in recent years, said Roger Philippon, dean of planning and public affairs. “The flags now number 32 countries. If students or faculty don’t see their flag, they inform the college. We make sure we get a flag hung up.”

Flags of countries now hanging at CMMC are: Angola, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Burundi, Canada, China, Columbia, Congo, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, England, India, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Netherlands, Sierra Leone, Somali, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Uganda, United States, West Africa and Zimbabwe.  

And this is the second year of CMCC’s hockey team. “We do draw students from far and away for that,” Seymour said. Some players are from Europe and Canada.

Offering a place where people can get passports “is one of those things that people have said would be nice to have.”

Citizens can apply in person for a passport at the college’s Central Services Office, Room J115 on the ground floor of Jalbert Hall. At that spot are other services, including mail and printing. “It will be a one-stop shop where you can get your photo,” Seymour said.

The hours of operation someone can apply for a passport are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursdays. Appointments are not required.

For more information, contact CMCC’s Kellie Morris, the passport program manager, at 207-755-5294.

For information on passport forms, fees, how to apply and more, go to the U.S. State Department website: travel.state.gov.

Central Maine Community College students pass through the Hall of Flags, where flags represent the countries of students and faculty. CMCC’s student population is becoming more global and on Tuesday the college announced it is now a site where people can get passports. (Photo by Dennis Griggs)