KC HOSTS REGIONAL BUSINESS LUNCHEON

Kaskaskia College

618-545-3000

27210 College, Rd, Centralia, IL

Kaskaskia College - Success Starts Here

Kaskaskia College hosted a Regional Business Luncheon in partnership with the Greater Centralia Chamber of Commerce for over 120 guests Wednesday at the Lifelong Learning Center, followed by a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate its new mobile manufacturing lab.

KC President, George Evans, said the mobile manufacturing lab was made possible by the KC staff and was a project five years in the making.

Evans noted the lab is yet another example of KC continuing its efforts as the district’s premiere workforce development provider.

”Manufacturing is our number one employer in the district, including Centralia. It is the number one highest wage in the district. We are your workforce training provider,” Evans said during his presentation. “We are the individuals that staff the hospitals, that staff the manufacturing plants, that also provide the accounts for business individuals and marketing individuals, the research development people behind the scenes. A majority of those individuals started at Kaskaskia College, and we are very, very proud of that.”

Evans said reported a continual incline in KC’s enrollment numbers over the past three years, after having braved the complications of the pandemic, and noted the college’s continued efforts to modernize the campus, which turns 60 years old in 2025.

“We are in the last of three phases right now. The last of the three phases includes the construction of the gymnasium, which is 57 years overdue. Our modernization project with the classrooms for the most part has been completed, with a few touchup areas here and there,” Evans advised. "The institution has changed substantially. We have upgraded our HVAC, we have upgraded our technology, even our restrooms have been upgraded.”

Also presenting at the luncheon were KC vice president, Amy Zanton, who further discussed the school’s rise in enrollment; provost, Julie Obermark, who covered updates to school programs; Dean Joy Fitts, who elaborated on the colleges industry partnerships and apprenticeships; and foundation executive director Michael Christensen. who announced that KC had raised $73,000 for scholarships during the 2024 KC Gala.