Lee College, for the rest of us

Start with the public calendar for performances, sports and family programs. For dual credit, begin with the student's high-school counselor and a Lee College advisor. For children, look at Kids at College rather than assuming summer programming is only athletics. For adults, continuing education can be the doorway even when a degree is not the goal.

The Performing Arts Center

The Lee College Performing Arts Center at 805 W. Texas Ave is one of the bigger stages in Baytown: touring acts, the holiday show and student productions. The 2026–27 season on the college's site runs a magic-and-illusions night on October 30, a Chicago tribute band on November 6, The Crusaders Experience on February 6, Arrested Development on February 26 and The Billy Joel Experience on April 24, all at 7:30 p.m. The box office phone line is answered Monday to Thursday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday 8 a.m. to noon, and in-person sales open one hour before curtain. Tickets are sold online through the PAC page, and the season is on the calendar with every date. The Baytown Symphony has also performed in town; check its schedule for dates and venue.

Film night is the cheap way in. The PAC runs a movie series on a screen the college says is 30 feet wide and 18 feet tall, with a 4K laser projector and surround sound, at 7 p.m. and mostly on Thursdays. Admission is five dollars, two with a student ID. The fall run began with Psycho on October 1. Still ahead are Phantom of the Opera with live music on October 22 and The Muppet Christmas Carol on December 17, and the list runs into summer 2027.

Lee College Theatre

The Lee College Theatre shares the PAC's address, 805 W Texas Ave, and is where the student productions live. Dates are on the college's theatre page and the calendar. It is the smaller, closer room, and the one to try with a kid who has never been to a play.

Dual credit and the high schools

Goose Creek and Barbers Hill students take college classes here for credit while still in high school. It is not a side program: the college counted 3,245 dual-credit students in a fall 2024 enrollment of 8,808. If you have a fourteen-year-old, this is the conversation to have with the counselor now, not at seventeen, and to bring the pathway you are interested in. The pathways — process technology, nursing, welding, instrumentation — are the plants' pipeline. Process technology is a four-semester associate degree or a three-semester certificate, and it prepares operators and lab technicians for refineries and manufacturing. Welding runs from certificates in combination and structural welding through an associate degree and a welding-inspection certificate. Lee lists more than one hundred degree and certificate programs in all, and the science and technology courses live in what the directory lists as Lee College STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, at 200 Lee Dr.

Continuing education

The Workforce and Community Development center is at 909 Decker Dr, open Monday to Thursday 7:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. and Friday 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Its catalog is the one nobody reads: career training, adult learning, corporate programs, fiber optics, heavy equipment operator training taught in Spanish, recreation and travel classes, and senior classes. You register and pay online, there is no admission process, and evening sections are common.

Kids' programs

Kids at College runs camps on campus for grades K through 12: sports camps, arts and crafts camps and teen courses. Dates and prices are posted in the registration portal, so register early. Registration windows are also on the youth page and the calendar. For a younger child, the Chambers County Children's Museum at 10955 Eagle Dr in Mont Belvieu is listed among the college's community programs and is worth the drive.

The library

The Erma Wood Carlson Library sits on the ground floor of the Advanced Technology Center and is open to all visitors, with study rooms and computers. The fall schedule is Monday to Thursday 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to noon. Online databases are for students and employees only, and hours change with the term, so check the page before a weekend trip. If you only need a card and a quiet table with no parking hunt, the city's Sterling Municipal Library at 1 Mary Wilbanks Ave is open Monday to Thursday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and it runs kids' programs of its own.

Sports

The Navigators play in the gym: men's basketball and women's volleyball. Schedules and ticket prices are at gonavigators.com and on the calendar, and it makes a good cheap night with a kid who likes a crowd.

The turnaround connection

Many crews on a turnaround train through Lee's process-tech or craft programs, and contractors often send workers to safety training in the area. If you came for a job and want to stay for a career, this is the building.

In a lot of towns the community college is where you go when the plan didn't work. In Baytown it's the plan.

Five-dollar film night at the PAC, a Thursday, with a fourteen-year-old and a conversation about dual credit on the drive home. Cheap, and the most useful night out in the county.

What it means here

Two years, a credential, a badge, and a wage that lets a twenty-year-old buy a truck and, a few years later, a house in Mont Belvieu with a yard. Parents here don't push the four-year school the way parents do in the suburbs; they push Lee, because they've done the math and because they've seen what happens to the kid who went off with loans and came back to the same gate anyway. That's not a lack of ambition. It's a town that knows exactly what its work is worth and has built the shortest honest road to it.

Lee College as an employer covers the same college from the hiring side -- who it trains for, and who hires straight from the program.

For the hundred-year story behind why this college exists where it does: the fence and the town.

Before you go

- Park in the Lee College lots for the PAC. Parking is not confirmed as free. On festival nights, such as Grito Fest on October 3 this year, the same lots take overflow from Bicentennial Park across the street, so arrive early or expect a walk. - The box office opens one hour before show time for in-person sales, and the phone line is answered only during weekday office hours, so buy online ahead of a popular night. - Film night is five dollars, two with a student ID, and the series is mostly Thursdays at 7 p.m. - Ask the high school counselor about dual credit early, and bring the pathway you are interested in, because the pathways above are the ones the plants hire from. - Kids at College sessions and prices live in the registration portal, so look there before you plan a summer week around them.

En español

Lee College para las familias

Lee College es el colegio comunitario de Baytown, junto al centro (200 Lee Drive, frente al parque Bicentennial). Se puede usar mucho antes de que alguien de la familia sea estudiante de tiempo completo.

Performing Arts Center

El Performing Arts Center (805 W. Texas Ave) presenta la temporada 2026–27 a las 7:30 p.m.: noche de magia e ilusiones el 30 de octubre, tributo a Chicago el 6 de noviembre, The Crusaders Experience el 6 de febrero, Arrested Development el 26 de febrero y The Billy Joel Experience el 24 de abril. La línea de la taquilla atiende de lunes a jueves de 8 a.m. a 5 p.m. y viernes de 8 a.m. a mediodía; la venta en persona abre una hora antes. Los boletos se compran en línea. La noche de cine cuesta cinco dólares (dos con credencial estudiantil), a las 7 p.m., casi siempre los jueves: sigue Phantom of the Opera con música en vivo el 22 de octubre y The Muppet Christmas Carol el 17 de diciembre. El estacionamiento está en los lotes de Lee College; no está confirmado que sea gratis.

Lee College Theatre

Comparte la dirección del PAC (805 W Texas Ave) y presenta las producciones estudiantiles; las fechas están en la página del teatro.

Crédito dual

Estudiantes de Goose Creek y Barbers Hill toman clases universitarias mientras están en la preparatoria: 3,245 estudiantes de crédito dual en el otoño de 2024, de 8,808 inscritos. Hable con el consejero de la escuela y el asesor de Lee College. Las carreras (tecnología de procesos, enfermería, soldadura, instrumentación) alimentan a las plantas.

Educación continua

El centro de Workforce and Community Development (909 Decker Dr) abre de lunes a jueves de 7:30 a 5:15 y viernes de 7:30 a 12:30, con capacitación profesional, educación para adultos, fibra óptica, operación de equipo pesado en español, y clases recreativas, de viaje y para personas mayores.

Niños y biblioteca

Kids at College ofrece campamentos para los grados K a 12. La biblioteca Erma Wood Carlson está abierta al público: en otoño, lunes a jueves de 7:30 a.m. a 9 p.m., viernes hasta las 2 p.m., fines de semana de 10 a.m. a mediodía. La biblioteca municipal Sterling (1 Mary Wilbanks Ave) abre de lunes a jueves de 10 a 8 y viernes y sábado de 10 a 5.

Deportes

Los Navigators juegan baloncesto masculino y voleibol femenino; los horarios están en gonavigators.com.

Sources

- Lee College Performing Arts Center: https://www.lee.edu/pac/ - Lee College 2026–27 PAC season: https://www.lee.edu/news/2026/2026-08-pac-new-season.pdf - Lee College library: https://www.lee.edu/library/ - Lee College workforce: https://www.lee.edu/workforce/ - Process technology: https://www.lee.edu/programs/process-technology/ - Welding: https://www.lee.edu/programs/welding/ - Kids at College: https://lee.edu/workforce/kids-at-college/ - About Lee College: https://www.lee.edu/about/