The new walls of the Greehey Family Student Success Center are in the process of being put up now, according to Angie Martin, vice president of finance and operations for Iowa Central.

“That’s one of those things that really shows changes,” she said. “There’s a lot of work done that people don’t really see (before that point).”

Kolacia Construction, of Fort Dodge, was awarded an $8.5 million contract for the new building.

Thanks in part to $4 million from Bill Greehey, Fort Dodge native and Valero Energy CEO, and a $25.5 million general obligation bond, the new building will help Iowa Central in a key part of its mission: student success.

-Messenger photo by Elijah Decious
The new Greehey Family Student Success Center at Iowa Central will co-locate and centralize nearly all of the services offered to ensure student success.

“Student success is the driving force to why this building is very critical to us,” said Martin.

For at-risk students needing an accessible education to get on the right path in life, something as simple as frustration in locating all the services they need on campus can make a big difference in their overall trajectory.

Over half of enrollment in fall 2016 was composed of first-generation students — those whose parents did not get a college education. The graduation rate for first-generation students is 21.9 %.

Executive summaries from Iowa Central say that students have a “limited window of opportunity to make course corrections before problems become too advanced to overcome.”

Struggling students rarely self-identify and often lack the initiative to seek out assistance when needed, leaving the onus on Iowa Central for developing proactive mechanisms for connecting those at risk of dropping out with the services they need as soon as possible.

-Submitted graphic
When finished, the new Greehey Family Student Success Center could look something like this architect rendering.

Part of that mission means co-locating support services that already exist, making them a “one-stop shop” for students and parents, said Jim Kersten, the college’s vice president of external affairs and governmental relations.

“Watching people on the edge of going to college at Iowa Central, if they get overwhelmed on campus doing things, they just leave,” said Kersten. “So now, we get it all in one building, so they can just go down the hall to see people who want to help them.”

With one anchor building, the new Greehey Family Student Success Center will give students the path of least resistance and help ensure ignorance of the services provided is quashed.

There, students will have much more visible access to all the services offered to bolster their success, such as the academic resource center, career services, the retention center, health services, mental health resources and veteran affairs.

“It’s a good anchor for the community — not just for Fort Dodge, but for this whole region,” Kersten said.

-Messenger photo by Elijah Decious
The new Greehey Family Student Success Center at Iowa Central Community College’s campus in Fort Dodge is in the month-long process of having its walls erected. Its completion is slated for the end of summer 2020.

Martin said the new building will complement the success of staff in helping students make the best of their experience.

“It’s the same stuff we’re doing. We’re just trying to do it better,” she said.

Modeled after donor Greehey’s “Haven for Hope” homeless shelter in San Antonio, Texas, the building will act as part of a larger mission for the state that is accomplished through student success: giving rural Iowa the workers it needs.

“The vision, really, is to allow rural Iowa access to the skilled training needed that will allow them to stay in rural Iowa and work for the jobs that are here,” Kersten said.

As many rural towns across Iowa continue to suffer from population loss, getting young people the right education and training may be the key they need to be able to continue living in the place they call home.

This makes student success at Iowa Central a win for employers struggling to fill positions in a state with one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, young people seeking opportunity that affords them the ability to continue living in small town America and towns that long to remain as vibrant as possible.

“It’s a true partnership to help maintain our population and provide good-paying jobs with these good employers,” said Kersten.

The building is unofficially expected to be complete by the end of summer 2020, a slight push back from original estimates of May, 2020. Interior walls will be put up in October. The roof is expected to be up in November before snow falls to allow crews to work on the interior throughout the winter.

“We’ve had very untimely rains,” Martin said. “But we don’t want to compromise on quality.”

The bond issue money will also help catch the community college up on deferred maintenance with roofing, HVAC systems and unit updates with buildings built in the 1960s.

“We’ve exhausted the useful lives,” of items that have been put off for maintenance, Martin said. “With state funding we’ve received, we haven’t been able to keep up with the needs of maintenance schedules as much as we would have liked to.”

Other projects

The parking ramp stair case, which is awaiting installation of one last glass panel, is nearly complete. The new staircase provides shelter from the weather for students as they walk in and out of the east and west side of the parking ramp.

Weather had deteriorated the old stairs beyond repairs.

“We were sanding and painting them, and there was nothing left for them to paint,” Martin said.

A security and safety project will soon bring in a new system that will integrate electronic locks to exterior doors on buildings, working with software for camera security. The new system will also allow key card locks to open exterior doors.

“That’s a pretty big item for us as well,” Martin said.

The project is expected to be completed in December.

Northwest Career Academy, located in Laurens, is expected to offer non-credit classes in September. High school classes will be available in fall 2020.

The industrial training center in Storm Lake, for which ground was broken earlier this summer, will be complete in summer 2020.

“We’re getting better recognized,” as an accessible school serving the needs of north central and northwestern Iowa, said Kersten, “but we have a lot of work to do. Families still need to understand that not all kids need to get a four-year degree.”