LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Southeast Community College is finding out that location matters to students, their communities and their employers.
SCC currently operates campuses in Lincoln, Beatrice and Milford, with some educational offerings across the rest of its 15-county service area.
An initiative to place learning centers in six more communities is seeing progress, Amy Chesley, SCC’s dean of continuing education, told the Lincoln Journal Star (https://bit.ly/2lM1L6g ).
Three of the new centers have opened, in York, Nebraska City and Plattsmouth. Sites in Hebron, Falls City and Wahoo are pending.
“The communities and businesses have been very grateful,” Chesley said. “They have felt a little neglected before and the decision to establish a greater presence has been received very well.
The center in York, which opened last year, offers general education courses to adult learners, English as a Second Language instruction and non-credit workforce development courses.
Like York’s center, Nebraska City’s offers English as a Second Language instruction and general education courses.
“When our center opened downtown,” Chesley said, “our enrollment almost doubled.”
Plattsmouth’s center opened in October, and the land was recently purchased to build Fall’s City center.
Chesley said an alternative location will be used for Wahoo’s center until finding a permanent facility.
She said the centers will offer classroom spaces with connectivity back to one of SCC’s main campuses and include a mobile computer lab.
Businesses are also taking notice to the learning centers.
Marguerite Himmelberg, director of client solutions and workforce development for SCC, said businesses wanting to offer technical skills training to employees with a smaller amount of employees are teaming up with other businesses to pursue certificate training.
“Businesses recognize that there is a skills gap and access to education is important,” Chesley said.
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Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, https://www.journalstar.com
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