Finishing touches

As the last touch-ups are completed and the final papers are signed for the completion of Southwestern Community College’s newest student housing building, fall athletes will be on their way to start the 2014-15 school year.

“The biggest thing was they are amazed it is going to be done and ready to go,” Tom Lesan, SWCC vice president of economic development, said. “We had a cold, long winter and a wet spring. It was the process they used to build the building. Once they got the building set up, they could use temporary heat and pour concrete in January and February.”

SWCC board members and faculty took a brief tour of Spartan Court Wednesday night following their regularly scheduled board meeting. Construction on the dorm started November 2013 and will be completed Friday.

Lesan led the tour, highlighting a new community room for more student social interaction and the laundry room that doubles as a storm shelter for residents.

“A lot of the board members said this was way better than any dorm they ever had to stay in,” Lesan said. “That is based on what our students have told us they want. This isn’t really a dorm, it is an apartment.”

Similar to the other apartment-style dorms on campus, each suite will have four individual bedrooms, a shared living room, kitchen area and two bathrooms.

Despite the new addition to campus housing, SWCC is once again seeking help from the community to help find living arrangements for students who are still in need of a place to live near campus this fall.

“Housing has become such a deciding factor when students are making their college decisions,” SWCC Admissions Coordinator Caitlyn Lesan said. “We’re very excited that we’ve once again reached capacity in student housing, even with the addition of a new three-story residence hall. However, we don’t want the fact we’re full to impact enrollment, therefore we’re looking to the Creston community to help us find housing for all these students.”

She encouraged anyone with open rental properties or housing opportunities for college students to contact her at 641-782-1453.

In other news

• With the increase of enrollment, Lesan said an additional freezer was added to the kitchen in the student center to increase storage space.

In order to run the unit, more power had to be run into the building.

“The unit that heats the gym apparently had the capacity to also do air conditioning,” Lesan said. “I’m not sure anyone on campus knew it had the capacity, someone years ago planned ahead, but the message didn’t get passed along as people come and go.”

The unit was used during the June graduation, which is typically the biggest ceremony. While this summer has been unique in the fact it has remained cool, the unit still helped keep the gym comfortable for more than 2,500 in attendance.

“The gym is a big area to air condition, so we won’t be running it much,” Lesan said. “But for the big events we will use it.”

Adding air conditioning to the gym was on the five-year facility plan, slated for 2017. Lesan said it was a nice surprise to find the unit already had the capacity to get the project done early.

• The SWCC Board of Directors approved contracts for Pedro Hernandez and Rumy Kabir.

Hernandez was recently hired as the new baseball coach and will now replace Mike Holmes as the physical education instructor.

Kabir is transitioning from his role as an administrative software system manager at SWCC to replace Loyal Winborn as the information technology systems networking instructor.

The board also regretfully accepted the resignation of nursing instructor Amanda Mohr. She has worked out the details to transition out of this position because school is starting so soon.