Addition, remodeling celebrated as new semester is about to start

    An estimated 75 to 100 people experienced the first look at a larger and newly remodeled Mid-Plains Community College Imperial campus at an open house and ribbon-cutting last week.
    The July 21 event at 1324 Broadway included greetings and congratulations from speakers, capped off afterwards by the MPCC’s board of directions’ July meeting.
    “We had a wonderful group of community folks who came to the event,” said Brenda Ledall, Imperial Campus Administrator.
    She is thoroughly pleased with the final product.
    “It’s a beautiful facility. The reception area is stunning as people arrive at the building,” she said.
    Ledall is excited about several new services MPCC can offer with the building addition and remodel now finished.
    Chase County Community Hospital donated a hospital bed, which will allow the entire CNA class to be offered on site now, she said. Previously, the lecture part of the course was held on campus, but the hands-on training was completed at Imperial Manor.
    All CPR classes will be moving to the MPCC campus due to the facility upgrade. Previously they were held at the EMS building.
    The added testing room provides a quiet space for students.
    “We had been shuffling students around” for testing, she noted.
    The addition also allows for more meeting space for the community, she added, for business trainings, business meetings and for community groups and organizations. Ledall said interested parties can contact the college for details.
    There are just a few small details to finish up in the building, Ledall said.
    New chairs, tables and furniture is expected to arrive in August before classes start, she said.
    Speakers at last week’s event included MPCC President Randy Purdy and Mike Steele, Area Vice-President for Administrative Services, who oversaw the project from its beginning.
    Tyler Pribbeno also spoke, representing the Imperial Community Foundation Fund and the city of Imperial, both which donated to the project.
The project
     Work began about a year ago after it was determined more space was needed at the Imperial campus to meet demands.
     A steady increase in full-time enrollment and additional partnerships with businesses and industries resulted in a need to accommodate enhanced workforce training, state-of-the-art mobile equipment and advancements in distance learning technology, college officials said.
     In July 2020, ground broke on the 2,500-square-foot addition on the north end of the existing campus building. It has two new classrooms, a multi-purpose community room, an office that doubles as a storm shelter, restrooms, a mechanical room and storage.
    In January, classes were moved into the new space so they could continue uninterrupted.
    The second phase of the expansion project began a month later. Crews remodeled the south end of the facility—overhauling the distance learning classroom, creating a testing room, adding a simulation lab to the health sciences classroom and updating the building entryway.
    MPCC officials say the Imperial campus will now be better set up to meet the needs of students, businesses and industries in its service area.
     Since opening at its current location in 2008, it has provided the Chase County region with both traditional and non-traditional classes, business and targeted industry trainings and a variety of avocational and recreational courses.
     The expansion will provide more opportunities for additional enrollment in nursing, CPR and Emergency Medical Services. Not only will there be increased class space for general education/transfer courses, but the multi-purpose room can also be used for on-site, applied technology courses and new hands-on learning.
     Those opportunities could include everything from meetings and business trainings to children’s classes and community education workshops.
     The expansion was possible, thanks in part, to the support of generous donors.
    In addition to MPCC’s contribution toward the $925,000 cost, donations for the project came from the city of Imperial, the Chase County Board of Commissioners, Adams Bank & Trust, Imperial Community Foundation Fund, Pinnacle Bank, Imperial Lions Club, Chase County Community Hospital and the William and Ruth Scott Family Foundation of Omaha.
    Ledall said the eight donors above are listed on a donor wall in the building.