ICCB CELEBRATES 60TH ANNIVERSARY AT KC

In the company of the local media, esteemed graduates, and administrative officials of community colleges throughout the southern Illinois, the Illinois Community College Board celebrated 60 years of education, connections and progress Thursday afternoon at Kaskaskia College.

A press conference was held in KC’s Lifelong Learning Center, where three community college alums spoke on their experiences at their respective colleges, and how they helped prepare and guide them into their successful careeers.

Damon Harbison, President of St. Mary’s Hospital in Centralia and Good Samaritan Hospital in Mt. Vernon, was one of the three to speak, explaining that Kaskaskia College his “launch pad” into a successful career in community healthcare.

“Before I became the president of two community hospitals and a rural health network, before I led multi-million-dollar healthcare initiatives, and before I sat on boards shaping the future of healthcare in Illinois, I was a student at Kaskaskia College,” Harbison told the audience. “That’s where my journey began. While I was washing dishes in the hospital [that] I am now president of, I earned my Associates in applied sciences and radiologic technology. That degree was not just a credential; it was a gateway to the future.”

“KC gave me that chance,” Harbison continued. “KC wasn’t just my starting point; it was my launch pad. It gave me the tools, the confidence and the foundation to pursue a career that has taken me from the front lines of treating cancer patients with radiation therapy to the executive boardrooms of healthcare leadership.”

Harbison also spoke of how Kaskaskia College, and community colleges as a whole, serve as the lifeblood for hospital staffing at the local level, helping to being the training and education of those who will one day offer care to our communities.

“In healthcare, the impact of community colleges is immeasurable,” Harbison said. “Community colleges are producing the talent that keeps our hospitals running and the patients in our communities cared for. As a healthcare CEO I can tell you firsthand, I can tell you we rely on community colleges. They’re not just part of the pipeline; they are the pipeline.”

Also speaking during the press conference was Amanda Hoeksema, a community college graduate who currently works as a mechanical engineer at Chamber community partner, Intermountain Electronics.

Hoeksema spoke on the importance of community colleges to industry, and how partnerships between entities like Kaskaskia College and Intermountain Electronics provide training and opportunities in Southern Illinois communities.

“On behalf of Intermountain Electronics, I want to express our deepest appreciation to Kaskaskia College for the incredible partnership we have built within the last few years. KC has been and continues to be an integral part of developing our manufacturing workforce,” said Hoeksema. “This institution isn’t just about educating students. It’s transforming lives and empowering industries·”      

Hoeksema said that through the support of Kaskaskia College, Intermountain Electronics has launched two department and labor apprenticeships in welding and for engineering apprentices.

“With KC serving as our trusted training partner, their programs consistently send us qualitied, motivated students,” Hoeksema said. “We’ve also welcomed mechanical engineering interns from KC, whose drive and classroom knowledge have made them valuable contributors to our engineering team.”

2016 KC graduate and current nurse practitioner in South County, St, Louis, Madison Hazlet-Warren spoke on her experience at Kaskaskia College, and how the school helped her create a solid career path for herself outside of debt.

“I had one goal when I started Kaskaskia College…and that was make your first paycheck your own. It was very important to me that the first paycheck I made as a professional went directly to me and not to a bank for a student loan,” Hazlet-Warren recalled. “The only way that I was able to achieve this was with the help of Kaskaskia College. I was lucky enough to receive a student and recruitment scholarship for my full two years in the associate degree Nursing program, as well as 11 other Kaskaskia College Foundation scholarships, which helped with books and other fees throughout my years here.”

“Besides just setting me up for success financially, Kaskaskia College gave me the opportunity to excel in my classes, my clinical rotations, and in the real world.”

KC President George Evans, who was one of three ICCB members to speak at the event, said a reported 520,000 attended Illinois community colleges in the last year, adding that Illinois’s community college system is one of the most effective in the entire country.

Last year alone, 520,000 students walked through the halls of all the community colleges in the state of Illinois, twice as many as the public and private university system. Amazing partners, they are. But think of that number. 520,000 individuals walked through our halls, many of them receiving a degree or certificate for less than $10,000,” Evans said. “There are only about three other states in the United States that can say that have an equal system to us. And that’s New York, New Jersey and California.”

Evans said he believed the uptick in enrolled was due in part to how effective Illinois community colleges were during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We all came together during the pandemic, we learned a lot in the pandemic, but if there’s one thing the nation learned during the pandemic is that we were able to pivot on a dime and meet the needs of labor, workforce, and the entire society,” said Evans. “We didn’t miss a beat, and I believe the nation recognized that and that’s why you’re seeing the enrollment grow at our community colleges.”

The KC president would also note that one of the things that makes the 45-community college-system in Illinois so strong is that there is no competition, only companionship.

“One thing that makes us stand out as 45 colleges is that we are 45 colleges together. Our strength is in our unity. We’re not in competition with our districts. We are here for each other.”

Administrators from the following community colleges were present during Thursday’s press conference and subsequent campus tours:

Kaskaskia College, John A. Logan College, Southeastern Illinois College, Illinois Eastern College, Southwestern Illinois College, Lakeland College, Lewis and Clark Community College, Rend Lake College, and Shawnee Community College.