By ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Transformation of the former Walmart Neighborhood Market to the new West Campus of Seward County Community College is nearly complete.
SCCC Vice President of Career Technology Education Dr. Amber Jones said work is finishing up, and plans are calling for students to be in the building the first day of the 2025 spring semester on Jan. 6.
Jones said, though, the school’s truck driving program, which will be what the West Campus will be primarily used for at this point, operates separately from the normal SCCC academic calendar.
“It’s a six-week program,” she said. “Their first class is in January, and we start on the 6th. They run six weeks.”
In a November interview, Dr. Jones said school leaders went through a walk through of the building with a few minor fixes, but even at that point, she said the building on Western Avenue is ready for furniture and for use.
“I don’t know that we have all the furniture yet, so that might be a little bit of a delay,” she said. “We’re hoping to have a grand opening. I don’t know when we would be able to do that. I would assume in early January.”
In November, Jones said instructors were still being hired, and grant funds had been obtained to purchase equipment.
“We should be getting new trucks and trailers, which we will need to be able to increase capacity,” she said. “Currently, we only have a small classroom, but once we get the bigger classroom and a bigger space, we’re going to need additional trucks so we can train more students at the same time.”
The truck driving school is just Phase One in the building’s transformation, however, as SCCC plans to move its diesel technology program into the campus in Phase Two. Before that can be done, though, Jones said drawings need to be approved, and she said that may have already happened.
“They’ll have to get rolling on Phase Two, which will include a shop,” she said. “We can’t move diesel over there until we have a diesel shop with bays. That’s going to have to be built, and I’m not sure how long that’s going to take. That is a part of the process. We’re also looking at including a lane for dual education for Phase Two, but I’m not sure if that’s been finalized or if we’re still exploring that option.”
Part of the lot the West Campus will soon occupy is the building that housed a convenience store at the Neighborhood Market. Jones said she is unsure what will be done with that building, but a few ideas have been tossed around.
“I don’t think we’ve landed on anything hard and fast yet,” she said. “There has been mention that we were thinking about a student grab and go. They’re not going to be close to the main campus to go get food or lunch, so maybe pre-packaged sandwiches in a machine. I’m not sure if that’s going to happen for sure.”
Jones said the demand for truck drives is constantly high, particularly in this area, and two sessions in both Liberal and Garden City are expected to be full for the spring semester.
“Last I checked, we had already matched the number of students through our program for the year last year,” she said. “We’ve already completed that many this year We’ve already trained and graduated with a CDL the same amount of students this fall we did all academic year last year.”
Jones said SCCC likewise is continually increasing its instructors and looking to expand the truck driving program.
“Once we have more space and more trucks and trailers, we’ll be able to do that,” she said. “That’s part of the grant we started out and got to start this whole project. What funded getting the West Campus was the grant funds to purchase that building.”
Jones said with the Neighborhood Market building being a pre-existing structure, it made more economical sense for purchasing, and the need and demand for truck drivers and industry needs in a land-locked area such as the Five State region, the building gave SCCC a way to increase its capacity, which she said was much needed.
“We asked for those funds to be able to increase that capacity and get more students,” she said. “We wanted to double enrollment in five years, and we’re already on our way to doing that.”
Of course, as the truck driving school and eventually the diesel technology program are moved to the West Campus, this will leave some empty space on SCCC’s Industrial Technology campus, and Jones said putting that to use will be a bit of a process too.
“We have a range over here that may still be utilized a little bit while we complete the range over there, but once that completely gets moved, we’ll have to determine what our plans are for the existing building,” she said “I don’t know if it’ll be used for storage or if it’ll just be removed.”
Jones said once the diesel technology program is moved, school officials will need to determine if a new program needs to be put in place or adjustments need to be made to an existing program.
“We’ve got some decisions to make, but I think having more space for technical programs is definitely what our community needs,” she said.
Jones also said she sees the demand for truck drivers staying constant for the foreseeable future.
“We are really dependent in our area,” she said. “Even though we have a train, there’s no way to get stuff to and from a train. There’s just going to be a continual demand. If we have more truck drivers in our area, we’ll have more infrastructure to be able to have more industry in this area.”
With a large amount of agriculture production in the area, Jones said those industries need to be supported with ways to transport their materials, and SCCC needs to continue to help with that aspect.
“There’s been a little discussion of late of how automated driving is coming, but that’s not going to be here for a while,” she said. “Even if it is, we’re going to have licensed CDL drivers to operate those. We have to realize there are things on the verge of changing, but the industry we have here is pretty rock solid and needing those.”
In addition to the truck driving and diesel technology programs, Jones said SCCC is always looking at expanding and meeting needs of industry.
“We have an industry partnership with Southwest Medical Center in the Allied Health department,” she said. “We’re looking at ways to provide a certified medical assistant program. It may even be a partnership with another institution just to help that industry.”
Jones said much interest has likewise been seen in developing electrical programs as well as other career fields.
“We’re looking at a lot of different options – physical therapy,” she said. “We’re even looking at the possibility of what we could do to have a pilots program that transfer. I don’t think anything is off the table.”
Jones said surveys have been done in the program, and SCCC leaders are looking at the data from those surveys to see what peaks people’s interest and correlates to the area’s economic demand.
“We’d like to have a renewable energy program – solar, wind,” she said. “We’d like to have an automated robotic manufacturing type program. There’s lots of different things we’re looking at, and currently, we have a new program, which is maintenance technician. In one semester, you can get some basic skills to work in maintenance at a manufacturing company, even a meat processing company. You have a pretty good career opportunity there, especially locally.”
Also Jones said school officials are trying to gather information to see what people in the service area want that is not already in place at SCCC.
“We take those surveys,” she said. “It’s always interesting because we have individuals in our community who ask for things we already have. We have an auto mechanic program. We do have a great HVAC program. We have programs I don’t think people even know about. Our corrosion technology program is such a high paying career. It’s an incredible program. Our natural gas compression program is really good.”
Jones said these programs provide high paying job opportunities, but she feels few are aware of them and how the market economy has changed.
“We’re seeing some openings and increased interest in some of those programs as well,” she said. “Our Allied Health programs are going to be doing their application process. Med lab tech, respiratory therapy, surgical technology, phlebotomy, these are programs that are available to our students,” she said. “Nursing and surgical technology, that process is starting right now. If you’re wanting to start next fall, you need to get in touch with admissions or the Allied Health department and find out what you have to do. If you’re interested in a quick turnaround Allied Health program, you could look at our CNA and CMA programs, and there’s some other options. For respiratory therapy, they take applications year-round, but right now is the time if you’re wanting to go into an Allied Health program in the next academic year. You need to look into that right now.”
Jones said it is absolutely crucial SCCC train and educate workforce, and when a school offers career technical programs, there is an assurance of having employable people in industry fields in which employers can pull from a large pool of help.
“We train our students not just to know the curriculum, but to be good workers,” she said. “If we want to have the most direct impact on our local economy, we need to educate our workforce. We need to provide skilled workforce in what is needed for our local industry. We train them here, and they stay here. We’ve got students in the area who want to get a better paying job in our community, and we have industry that wants to provide that for them. It’s crucial we work to provide more education for our students.”
