April 23, 2024

SWCC to partner with UCDA, DCDC

By SARAH SCULL

Bill Taylor, right, gives a tour of a house on Lakeview Drive in Creston to, from left, Denny Davis, Beth Kulow, Fred Shearer, Tia Samo and Jerry Smith after the SWCC board meeting Tuesday. The interior of the house is currently being worked on by SWCC carpentry students. (CNA photo)

Southwestern Community College Board of Trustees approved two building partnership contracts with the Union County Development Association and Decatur County Development Corporation.

The UCDA currently owns a property, at 409 W. Filmore St. in Afton. The contract allows SWCC to provide students in the carpentry and building trades programs hands-on experience as required by their programs. The project will be completed by 13 high school students from Creston, East Union, Southwest Valley and Diagonal, and a combination of 21 SWCC students in their first and second year of the building trades programs. The spec home is excepted to cost $135,073.55 to build, and allows SWCC students to work on the project without the college incurring the expense or risk associated with it.

Similarly, the contract with Decatur County Development Corporation allows high-school students – from Clarke, Central Decatur, Lamoni, Mount Ayr and Mormon Trail – who are enrolled in SWCC’s carpentry and building trades programs, to complete the build of a spec home in Lamoni, owned by the DCDC.

“It’s our college credit career academy, but it would be strictly high school students involved,” said Dr. Barb Crittenden, president of Southwestern Community College.

Faculty

The board approved the employment of Marilyn Kinsella for the position of nursing instructor for the 2018-19 academic year.

“Marilyn demonstrates the ability to establish positive relationships with all health care team members and patients through excellent communication and organizational skills,” wrote Bill Taylor, vice president of instruction. “She is an energetic individual who is excited about teaching and nursing and desires to combine the two for a career in nursing education.”

Kinsella has worked at Greater Regional Medical Center since 1998 and taught at Southwestern Community College from 2000 to 2007.