SAINTS PERSPECTIVE, SCCC President Brad Bennett
Collaboration. There was a time when collaboration was an unwelcome term that described someone working against the agenda, possibly in cahoots with an enemy in a time of war.
That’s no longer the case. At Seward County Community College, we list collaboration as one of our core values because we are huge fans of what collaboration means in 2025. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, that is: “to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor.” The word itself comes from the Latin Latin collaboratus, meaning to labor together (from Latin com- + laborare to labor). The word was first recorded in 1837, a moment in history that also saw the introduction of the terms “American way,” “bread-and-butter,” and “rebirth.”
I’m not usually a person who likes to look up word origins, but my interest in history — especially the two World Wars — led me down this path. After all, if someone asked you or your business or organization to pick a few words that sum up your goals, dreams, and values, wouldn’t you take a moment to think about your choices carefully?
Our strategic planning team, made up of members from all sectors of campus, felt collaboration accurately describes the SCCC approach to teamwork. Collaboration implies something a little more involved than just following orders as laid out by a coach or foreman. It emphasizes the equal value of the ideas suggested by members of the group, and a willingness to be open to new ways of thinking and problem-solving.
When I look at our campus culture, I see the marks of healthy collaboration everywhere. There’s the collaboration between our facilities workers and contractors who are hard at work to upgrade the math and science hallways, classrooms, and office spaces in the Hobble Building. As this summer project gains momentum, it can be difficult to tell the two groups of workers apart — they are working together. In fact, the refresh sparked inspiration for folks at the other end of the building. Last weekend, members of the admissions team banded together to do a little painting and redecoration of their office suite, where incoming students are first welcomed to campus.
Collaboration on a conceptual level, meanwhile, is constantly at work in our service area. When your days are spent in Liberal city limits, it’s easy to forget that our service area of seven counties includes 11 different high schools, plus private and home schools. And boy is there ever collaboration happening at all those sites. In small towns like Sublette and Plains, and slightly larger communities like Hugoton and Ulysses, our outreach director Laura Rosales is constantly in conversation with school counselors, instructors, and students. That dialogue, during the school year and through the summer months, means more high schoolers have access to earning college credits while still at work on their high school diploma. In fact, we celebrated 51 concurrent high school graduates of SCCC in May!
There’s never a shortage of collaborative effort: SCCC also works closely with peer institutions. Our CDL/truck driving and RMA (registered medical assistant) programs, along with the Surgical Technology and Respiratory Care study tracks, are closely aligned with Garden City Community College. Our Adult Education program is reaching out to area communities in Kansas and Oklahoma. And we have several highly innovative collaborations with the private Newman University and state colleges in Wichita, Manhattan, Hays, and Lawrence.
It's easy for institutions and individuals to get sidetracked into what we call “silos” in higher ed. That’s the opposite of collaboration, being so wrapped up in our own concerns and projects that we might as well be inside a silo. But isolation is not a strategy for growth. And SCCC is definitely in a growth phase.
This is a great place to think back to those other 1837 words: making the most of what you have to improve life for yourself and others? I can’t think of a better application of the notion of “the American way.” That’s what we do at SCCC. As for “bread-and-butter,” we know that our success is bound up with that of our students and our community. Service to them is in fact our “bread-and-butter." What about “rebirth”? Well, you know what we often hear from economists, small business owners, and personal growth experts. In life, you can grow or you can die.
SCCC is definitely in a growth stage, rebirthing the ideas that got this college started in the first place. Remember that story? It was a group of people who loved their community and had an eye on the future. They brought their various viewpoints and areas of expertise to the table to talk about what it might look like if a junior college was established in Liberal.
They were, in fact, the very best kind of collaborators.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR — Brad Bennett is the president of Seward County Community College, and a huge fan of what students sometimes call “group projects.” Accordingly, he is first to put his name down for team cookouts, all-staff work days, and anything that will help SCCC flourish. You can reach him at
