New to Iowa Central’s campus this year is the Triton Academy, said Vice President of Instruction Stacy Mentzer.

“We’ve got area high schoolers coming and participating in our actual programs, right in our classrooms,” she said. “That’s new and also very exciting.”

This semester, there are 64 area high school students in the Triton Academy.

“We offer all of our CTE programs and transfer pathways,” Mentzer said. “We have a health science pathway, psychology, education, welding, auto. Every program that we have, we open the doors to high school students to come in and take those classes.”

-Photo by Paul DeCoursey
Iowa Central welcomed students back for the first day of classes on Monday.

Laynie Knect, a freshman from Alta studying robotics at Iowa Central, is looking forward to her first semester at college and the campus life.

“It’s fun,” she said. “And the interactions with students.”

Knect hopes to work with animatronics and robots in the future, and pursuing her education at Iowa Central was the first step to that goal.

“I really liked the campus,” she said. “And I really liked the staff too, because when I came to visit, they were all really nice and made me feel included.”

Jake Lewis, a sophomore from Granada, Minnesota, is getting settled into the second year of the auto tech program.

-Photo by Paul DeCoursey
Iowa Central students walk across campus on the first day of classes Monday morning.

“Everything went pretty well,” he said. “It was pretty laid back for the first day, like it usually is.”

Lewis said he’s looking forward to getting to know new teachers and the incoming freshmen on campus.

After a long day of classes, students were able to unwind at a cookout at the Triton Cafe, where there were plenty of games and activities to try.

The 10-day count of students enrolled this semester won’t be complete until next week, and the certified enrollment numbers won’t be available until later this fall, but Mentzer said she is optimistic for this year.

“We’re looking really good — I would anticipate that we will be up this year,” she said. “The parking lots were full this morning. The sidewalks were full. It was great to see everything this morning.”

-Photo by Paul DeCoursey
Students take a break at the Triton Zone in the Student Resource Center at Iowa Central during the first day of classes on Monday.

Monday night’s cookout and games at the Triton Cafe were just the kick-off of two weeks of activities for Iowa Central students. Tonight, they’ll enjoy BINGO and pizza, Thursday will feature a mentalist show, Aug. 31 will have an outdoor movie in the courtyard and students will enjoy free food at the Student Resource Center for the next several Fridays.