By Meredith Hines-Dochterman
The Gazette

Eileen Ahlberg (left) looks at a poster about her life with Andrew Fortmann. Fortmann, a senior at Iowa City West High School, made the poster as their final project in Gary Neuzil's sociology class. For three months, West students have met with Melrose Meadows residents to discover similarities across generations. Students shared their findings through presentations./ Photo by Meredith Hines-Dochterman, The Gazette

IOWA CITY — Dylan Carew and Jim Corwin have much in common.

They love sports, especially University of Iowa wrestling, and learned at an early age that you have to work for what you want in life. Both athletes, that’s what they did.

“There’s not really that much different between us,” Corwin said.

Some might think that Corwin being a resident at Melrose Meadows, a retirement community, and Carew, 17, a senior at Iowa City West High School, is a big difference.
They would be wrong.

For the past three months, Melrose Meadows residents and students in Gary Neuzil’s sociology class have met each week to exchange ideas and opinions on issues such as values, immigration, economics and family dynamics.

The project, Neuzil said, wasn’t designed as us versus them, but to give people of different generations the opportunity to find the common theme in a variety of topics.

“The outcome was a sense of wonderment,” Neuzil said. “You really saw a wonderful blending of ideas and connections.”

Brook Easton, Melrose Meadows’ marketing coordinator, helped organize the project.

“I was looking for something that was more of an oral history sort of thing,” she said.

Instead, the students and residents developed an intergenerational project, sharing aspects of their lives with one another. Teams spoke of first loves and life lessons, school dances and teenage pranks.

West High seniors Ben Joe Potter and Ani Vardanyan, both 18, learned about cherry bombs from their partner, Eldon Hans. They shared teepee stories with him.

“I know the residents, but the students uncovered things I didn’t know,” Easton said. “This was better than I imagined.”

West High senior Aaron Kepler said he wasn’t sure what to expect when he learned of the assignment.

“It was kind of awkward the first time, a little uncomfortable,” said Kepler, 18.

The residents stood on one side of the room, the students on the other. By the time the project culminated, students and residents readily sat together.

“I loved listening to the stories,” Kepler said. “What they did when they were our age, what we do now — it really hasn’t changed. We have a lot in common, although maybe we play our music a little too loud and drive a little too fast.”

Students and residents met one last time Tuesday night. One by one, students stood before the audience in Melrose Meadows’ wellness center to share what they learned from one another. Some students presented timelines; others, question-and-answer projects. A few had video and computer reports, showcasing the technology often mentioned as a big difference between generations.

“School was a lot harder back then because they didn’t have the technology we have,” said Andrew Fortmann, 18, a senior.

Eileen Ahlberg, a Melrose Meadows resident, told Fortmann she probably would have been a better student if she had the technology — a statement that was met with laughs.

“This was a neat project,” Ahlberg said. “It was surprising how often our thoughts were about the same.”

Easton and Neuzil said the project would continue next year.

“I think it was a great way to bring about history for these young people, giving them some perspective of where their ancestors came from and the world they grew up in,” resident Hans said.

Roosevelt has new song for a new day

By Phil Harvey
The Gazette

Austin Mann, Eighth-grader at Roosevelt Middle School, plays the wind chime during band practice in Cedar Rapids. The Roosevelt Middle School Eighth-Grade Band was rehearsing "On the Edge of Tomorrow," a piece written by student band members on the trauma some of the students experienced as a result of the flood. The performance will premiere on May 21 /Chris Mackler, The Gazette.

Last June’s flood has inspired a musical composition, as well as the Roosevelt Middle School eighth-graders who will premiere it this week.

It’s usually a challenge to get middle schoolers to play with emotion because they lack life experience, says band director Kristin Beatty.

“But it’s really different for them because (now) they know trauma, they know stress,” Beatty says.

The composition, by composer Michael Sweeney of Milwaukee, was commissioned by Roosevelt, which has a number of flood victims among its students.

Sweeney says his piece moves from a tone of anger to calm, ending with a note of hope.

The composer invited the band’s 125 students to name the piece.

One student suggested “Forgiving the River.” Another one came up with “Fish in the Basement.”

Ultimately, the students decided on the composer’s suggestion, “On the Edge of Tomorrow.”

“I think this particular group,” Beatty says, “has come together even more (than usual), partly because of the experience they’ve been through, and partly because of this piece.”

The concert - 7 p.m. Thursday, Roosevelt Middle School auditorium, 300 13th St. NW. Admission: free.

KCRG TV-9 video

School exercise prompts adventurous author

By Dave Rasdal
The Gazette

Anita Barta of Cedar Rapids, who bought her Mustang convertible after renting one to drive along Route 66, has published a fun yet inspirational book, "I Never Thought of That ...," based on how her college students in Wisconsin answered roll call./ Photo by Dave Rasdal

Anita Barta of Cedar Rapids, who bought her Mustang convertible after renting one to drive along Route 66, has published a fun yet inspirational book, “I Never Thought of That …,” based on how her college students in Wisconsin answered roll call.

If turnabout is fair play, Anita Barta, then finish this statement: Everyone gets their kicks on Route 66 because …

“… There’s so much freedom and so much history and so much nostalgia,” replies the retired college professor.

And then she laughs.

As author of “I Never Thought of That …,” she knows that I’ve used her technique to stimulate conversation.

You see, the Cedar Rapids native and former director of therapeutic recreation at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, who retired in Cedar Rapids in 2000, used to greet her students at the beginning of each class with what she calls a “creative prompt.” In other words, a sentence they’d complete on paper and sign to prove they’d been in class that day.

If books were people and people were books …

I would put them in their place.

We’d know not to judge by the cover.

What a library the world would be.

And so, Anita, 64, with encouragement from students who wanted to see other responses, finally assembled her book and self-published it in April (www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/i-never-thought-of-that/4383108), adding to the world’s library. It’s available locally for $14.50 at Mercy Medical Center and The Eastern Iowa Airport gift shop.

“It’s a therapeutic tool,” Anita says. “It can enhance communication. Everything is correct. You can be silly or serious.”

The best way to make someone feel good is to …

Do their laundry.

Sing an impromptu song.

Smile – it’s contagious.

“It’s for someone who is just waiting around and wants a quick read,” Anita adds.

That wouldn’t be her.

My Route 66 prompt came from knowing that Anita drives a silver 2005 Mustang convertible, purchased after she and younger sister, Jeanne Barta Craine, drove the 2,400-mile route in 2004.

“We rented a new red Mustang,” Anita says. “We had the top down all the way. You’re driving on roads, wherever. Grass is growing up through the cracks.”

And memories came flooding back from trips taken on this part and that of the famous highway with late parents Emil and Marian Barta. They farmed south of Cedar Rapids, had some land taken for Interstate 380, in fact, but loved to travel.

Anita figures she’s seen the Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse monuments in South Dakota’s Black Hills at least 150 times. And she’ll return again, soon.

Because grass may grow up through pavement, but it doesn’t grow under her feet unless she’s playing golf or hiking or … hey, Anita, here’s another prompt.

Exploring caves is called spelunking because …

“… someone might plunk you out in the dark,” Anita laughs.

She has explored caves from the Black Hills to the foothills along the Huzzah River in the Missouri Ozarks and to the huge Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.

Above ground, if Anita isn’t riding her bicycle or one of her two motorcycles, she might be … another prompt:

If humans were not meant to fly, then why …

“… did I learn to fly?” she replies.

Because her father loved soaring with the birds, Anita earned her pilot’s license in 1977 and still loves it, especially landing.

“It’s ahhhh,” she says. “It’s here you are and you’ve been up there and now you bring it down.”

2009 Gazette Communications

By Dave Rasdal
The Gazette

MANCHESTER – Just when Dave Schultz thought he would retire from inspiring students, he’s been called upon to teach one more lesson.

Life’s last lesson.

How to die gracefully.

Dave Schultz, a retiring West Delaware High School government teacher who is battling cancer, has received support from many former students including Jeff Lenhart (right) of McGregor, who graduated in 2003 and organized the sale of T-shirts to support his former teacher. Photo by Dave Rasdal.

For 36 years, Dave has taught government and history at West Delaware High School. His last day in class is May 22.

For a month, Dave has known his body is riddled with aggressive esophageal cancer. His last day on Earth …

“It’s like I told them,” says Dave, 58, “I don’t have time to die this year. I’m too busy.”

So, when everyone at school migrated toward the auditorium May 8, Dave scratched his head. “Did I miss something?” he says.

When the time was right, Dave was led to the auditorium. Former student Jeff Lenhart called him on stage. Several hundred people stood and applauded. Dave gazed out from the bright lights. He swallowed hard.

“I’m never short of words,” Dave tried to joke. But the crackling of his voice betrayed his smile. “People have done a lot of stuff to make me cry lately.”

A lot of people have cried for Dave, too.

“He’s just a great guy, hands down,” says red-eyed Jennifer Huehnergarth, who has taught social studies with Dave for 13 years. “A tremendous asset to our school. A tremendous asset to our community. Anyone who knows Dave; he just beams positive things.”

The testimonials are many. Messages of encouragement written on paper balloons cover the walls of Dave’s classroom. Students and faculty wear light blue “Team Schultz” Relay for Life T-shirts.

A paper balloon gives support to Dave Schultz, a retiring West Delaware High School teacher who has cancer. Photo by Dave Rasdal.

In fact, 533 of the T-shirts have been sold. Jeff, who graduated in 2003 and now lives in McGregor, hopes to sell 2,000. He gave Dave a $1,200 check as part of the proceeds.

“Government was my favorite subject in school,” Jeff says. “He got me involved.”

Not every student was so inclined, even Dave’s son, Jordan, 24.

“He was tough. He didn’t like people sleeping in his class. I found that out the hard way.”

Dave sprays them with a water bottle.

He slams books on the floor to get attention.

He stands on his head, threatening to teach that way.

For a month, Dave has missed Thursday classes for treatment at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. Less than 5 percent of people with this cancer survive a year.

Yet, life goes on. Dave and his wife, Janis, will retire to Missouri. He vows to fight the cancer as best he can.

Then, when the time comes, Dave Schultz will leave behind a lesson for all.

By Carla Keppler
The Gazette

IOWA CITY – University of Iowa professor emeritus Robert Engel last week looked back on life at the UI during the turbulent 1970s with tears, sharing remembrances from the perspective of both protester and administrator.

The Old Capitol was a focal point of demonstrations against the Vietnam War on July 26, 1970, when a fire was set on the steps of the historic building, which students occupied on the University of Iowa campus. UI Professor Emeritus Robert Engel recalled those demonstrations in a speech last week at the State Historical Society Building. Photo by The Gazette.

To understand the student unrest on campus and in Iowa City during the Vietnam War era, Engel said during a Wednesday address at the State Historical Society Building, one must have a firm grasp on the cultural climate that dominated the lives of students and faculty.

“There’s a tendency to tell fish stories,” Engel said. “That’s why it’s important to go back through the recorded history.”

Engel shared his experiences with campus rallies and protests but also referenced the 10 hours of oral history he gathered from the UI administrators when Iowa City was one of the nation’s most acrimonious hubs for activism of all sorts.

A major struggle, the former UI administrator said, was defining the university’s role in that activism.

“The boundaries around an institution are fluid,” he said, adding that the administration worked closely with students to iron out struggles. “Whatever challenges we had on campus, we wanted to keep them in our community and not be dealt with by outsiders.”

Administrators like Engel often participated in the demonstrations.

Each Wednesday at noon, Engel recalled, he stood on the corner of Clinton and Washington streets as part of a silent protest against the Vietnam War.

One night, almost 300 UI students and faculty were arrested after breaking into the Old Capitol. When furniture was thrown through windows and small fires were set, police were called in to clear the area.

Robert Engel, 1989 photo

To avoid further upheaval, and in accordance with Engel’s advice, officers gave protesters the option to leave before taking them into custody. Arrests at that time were often purposeful and “for conscience’ sake.”

Looking back, Engel said there is no way the university could have prepared for the mass demonstrations and self-determination prevalent on campuses nationwide in the 1970s.

“There was nothing normal about it,” he said. “These things aren’t rational. This was a movement, a life.”

Engel said the era was a matter of the deepest import and seriousness.

“It was a time that was very difficult, and it’s emotional because of its value,” he said.

Video by gocyclonestrib.

Hobbs proves to be a finisher

Iowa State players Tyson Smith (left) and Ellis Hobbs (right) hold the Independence Bowl trophy after their 2004 win. Hobbs, currently a Philadelphia Eagle cornerback, returned to ISU and was awarded his dipoma on Saturday /AP Photo, Charles Smith

AMES — What Ellis Hobbs accomplished in earning his degree from Iowa State is just the kind of thing the loud and proud Texan has preached his whole life.

“It’s about finishing,” Hobbs told a crowd of reporters Saturday outside a Hilton Coliseum buzzing with graduates and their families. “It shows what your character is. When you start something, you should finish it.”

The former Cyclone football star and current Philadelphia Eagle was one of the thousands in the building waiting to walk across the stage. Hobbs hadn’t been back to campus in years and didn’t need much time to get nostalgic in the place he used to call home.

“Every time I see something it reminds me of something,” he said. “The smell in the air, the way the wind is blowing. You remember everything. It’s funny how the mind works.”

Hobbs left ISU in 2004 following an all-Big 12 senior season and was a third-round NFL draft pick. His football career was taking off, but Hobbs was seven credits short of a B.A. in art and design when he left Ames.

Five years later, the degree he told his mother, Nettie, he’d one day hold is officially his.

She didn’t mind ironing Ellis’ cap and gown.

“It was a good feeling,” she said. “Ellis always keeps his promises. He’s a good kid.”

Hobbs, a week shy of his 26th birthday, has fame, fortune, family . . . why lose sleep over a piece of paper when you’ve got a job making millions?

Because mom wanted him to. Hobbs is the first in his family to own a college degree.

“Getting a college education is very important,” Nettie Hobbs said. “If you leave the NFL tomorrow you can always go into graphic design and say you have a degree from Iowa State.”

This day would have occurred years ago, Hobbs said, had rehabbing from surgeries not dominated his off-seasons the last two years. Hobbs took a speech class at a junior college and completed his degree requirements with an internship at Kraft Sports Productions, which is owned by New England Patriots chairman and CEO Robert Kraft.

His wife, three-month-old son Ellis IV, and other immediate family members alongside, Hobbs was all smiles and well-dressed, sporting a cardinal and gold-colored ensemble.

“It’s a good moment right now,” he said.

His next feat is completing his transition from New England to Philadelphia.

Hobbs was traded last month after four successful seasons with the Patriots that includes a Super Bowl victory. He started every game the last two years and has totaled 198 tackles and nine interceptions during his career.

He also has returned three kickoffs for touchdowns.

Now Hobbs will be with a contender in the NFC in the Eagles.

“It’s a great thing. I couldn’t be more pleased,” he said. “It was time in New England where it was time for me to go, business and personal-wise. (The NFL) is a business.”

Art students replicate Aztec Sun Stone

Randi Jenkins, 14, of Ainsworth (from left), Katie Seaton, 15, of Riverside, and Abby Hanson, 14, of Riverside make a T-shirt with an Aztec design during a school wide project on Mexican history at Highland High School in Riverside. Classes in Art, math, home economics, industrial arts, English and Spanish participated in the project which was aimed at bringing Mexico's culture to Iowa for a day/Photo by Brian Ray, The Gazette

RIVERSIDE — Four Highland High School art students study the center of the Aztec Sun Stone they are recreating from cardboard and felt.

The intricate design, a hieroglyphic and pictographic layout of Mexico’s history, religion and science, is made of many small pieces — one of which doesn’t fit.

“Sharpie,” junior Joshalyn Stout says.

A black Sharpie is placed in her hand. Stout, 16, marks the piece, then uses a box cutter to trim it. She presses it back in the design. It fits.

For three weeks, students in Deb Serbousek’s art class have worked on the center of the Aztec Sun Stone, tracing designs on cardboard, cutting them out, and covering the shapes with felt.

“I’m getting tired of cardboard,” said senior Matt Yeggy, 17.

Students in two other classes are working on the stone’s outer circles. Serbousek hopes to have the project finished before summer vacation — an 8-foot replica of the 24-ton monolith.

“We’ve never taken on something like this before,” Serbousek said.

That’s one of the reasons why she agreed to the project.

“I really like the collaboration, working with three classes,” Serbousek said. “They have to be doing their best because it will reflect on the piece.”

“There’s a lot of celebrations,” said junior Addi O’Conner, 16. “A lot of them took place at night because it’s so hot during the day, so that was new — staying up late and going to school the next day.”

Highland’s celebration included presentations on Mexican and Aztec history — in English and Spanish — and the sharing of Mexican short stories. Emily Wehr’s Foods II students prepared black bean salsa and jicama for the 200 high school students.

Jicama is a Mexican vegetable with the look of a sliced apple, but the texture of a potato.

“It was OK,” said senior Barb Zook, 18. “I wouldn’t eat it on a daily basis.”

Collaboration was key Friday, when several classes at Highland came together to celebrate Mexican history. Art, math, home economics, industrial arts, English and Spanish classes participated in the project, bringing Mexico’s culture to Iowa for a day.

Spanish teacher Peggy Guetzko proposed the project in January. Her class had studied the history of the Aztec Sun Stone and Guetzko was eager to bring her classroom lessons to life. She asked Serbousek if her art students could recreate the stone. The industrial arts class volunteered to make a stand. From there, she said, teachers approached her with ideas how they could contribute.

“People were so kind and supportive,” Guetzko said. “I love this school.” “It’s pretty cool how everything ties together,” said Brittany Stewart, 17, a junior.

And it was a reminder for Stewart and several classmates of what they experienced when they visited Mexico earlier this year. The students lived with host families for part of the trip, immersing themselves in the culture.

2009 Gazette Communications

By Dave Rasdal
The Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS — In a couple of weeks, Jon Reynolds will fly from Cedar Rapids to Bahrain to visit his good buddy Crown Prince Shaikh Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa. They’ll celebrate the 10th anniversary of the birth of an extraordinary college scholarship program.

Jon Reynolds of Cedar Rapids holds a magazine cover of his good friend, Salman Al Khalifa, the crown prince of Bahrain, whom Jon worked with to establish a unique college education program whereby Bahrain high school graduates can qualify for all-expense paid educations in the United States or the United Kingdom. Photo by Dave Rasdal.

“I call him Shaikh,” John says with a laugh. “I was the crown prince’s counselor. I knew him when he was 14.”

The crown prince is now 39, commander-in-chief of the Bahrain Defense Force and a genuine believer in the value of an excellent education for his country’s best students.

In fact, the crown prince’s International Scholarship Program spends $3 million annually to provide 10 new students per year all-expense-paid college educations for up to six years.

Figure it out. If 60 students are in the program at one time, that’s up to $50,000 per year per student for everything from tuition and books to living expenses and occasional trips back home.

“I think it’s the most wonderful program in the world,” Jon says.

But how did Jon, 72, who grew up in Sigourney and graduated from Cornell College in Mount Vernon, become friends with a crown prince and get the call to help set up such a program?

Well, that story goes back to 1964. Jon was teaching English, theater and speech in Jesup when he learned about overseas teaching opportunities through the University of Northern Iowa. That fall, he found himself in Dreux, France, as a houseparent at a boarding school operated by the U.S. Department of Defense.

For the next 40 years, Jon would live, teach and counsel students in France, Turkey, Spain and Bahrain. It was an unbelievable career for an Iowa boy who knows, firsthand, not only the value of his own education but the value of providing solid educations to young people.

In 1973, John returned to UNI for a break. That summer, as he counseled, researched and attended school, he met his wife, Jean, a Springville native and elementary teacher. They married that year and went to Turkey, Spain, and, in 1983, Bahrain, an Arabic island country in the Persian Gulf.

Jon had heard that defense department educators were being asked to staff a private international school for the Bahrain International School Association. It seemed the opportunity of a lifetime.

Jon became a counselor (middle-school students at first, later juniors and seniors) while Jean taught elementary students in one of the newest, most advanced schools in the world. Tuition ranges from $14,000 to $22,000 per year. Students representing 50 nationalities come from among the 400 wealthiest families in the world.

Jon, of course, counseled the crown prince. And in 1999, the crown prince called Jon to help formulate the college scholarship program.

Each year, maybe 300 students, all in the top 3 percent of their classes, apply. They are required to write essays, perform at least 20 hours of community service and complete a course in critical thinking.

“Students are not only encouraged, but pushed, to question everything and anything,” Jon says. “They don’t take anything for granted.”

Finalists are whittled down through tests and interviews in front of international panels until only the best of the best remain.

“It’s strictly based on merit,” Jon says. “That’s the beauty of it.”

The students attend the best universities in the United Kingdom and the United States, often Ivy League schools. One student graduated from Drake University in Des Moines with five majors.

Jon, since retiring in 2004 and returning to Eastern Iowa, remains active with the scholarship program. In fact, he hosts high school students who leave Bahrain to attend prep schools in the United States.

“Not only do I want to see the crown prince again,” Jon says of his upcoming trip. “The new student who’s coming to prep school in the United States will be there. I’ll be able to meet him and his parents.”

© Gazette Communications 2009

A circa 1945 parade passes the former J.C. Penney store at 109 Second St. SE in Cedar Rapids. The Three Sisters women’s clothing store is at left. Photo courtesy of Mark Stoffer Hunter

By Mark Stoffer Hunter
Cedar Rapids Historian

A few thoughts and observations this week on recent and ongoing changes in regard to Cedar Rapids history:

In downtown Cedar Rapids, the plastic has been removed from the three-story scaffolding that fronts the old J.C. Penney buildings in the 100 block of Second Street SE, across from the Blue Strawberry and LoDo’s Pizza. Visible again after many years are sections of a stone building facade, including some interesting architectural details first constructed in 1930.

The United Fire & Casualty Co. is remodeling the old Penney’s building for additional office space. The north section of the structure, at 109 Second St. SE, was built in 1930, replacing the old Farmers Insurance Building that had stood there since 1884. The Cedar Rapids J.C. Penney Department store, formerly in the 200 block of First Avenue SE, occupied the entire new structure.

By 1940, the old Magnus Block next door at 113-115 Second St. SE had been demolished and replaced by an addition to the new Penney’s store. Until the mid-1950s, the Three Sisters women’s clothing store operated out of the ground floor of the Penney’s addition. The Three Sisters shop moved to the new Town & Country Shopping Center in 1956.

Penney’s then “modernized” its 1930 and 1940 buildings on Second Street SE by covering up the decorative concrete facade on the upper floors with square metal panels. The building retained this look from 1957 until 1979, when Penney’s moved to the new Westdale Mall. Over the last 30 years, the old Penney’s building has housed a McDonald’s restaurant and financial offices.

 Demolitions continue

Demolitions continue in the flood-damaged neighborhoods of Cedar Rapids. To date, more than 160 properties (mostly houses) have disappeared from view since July. The wrecking of the 100- year-old Trinity Methodist Church at Third Avenue and Fifth Street SW on April 10 was especially dramatic and a permanent change to the west downtown area skyline.

Other recent demolitions of note include a very old brick residence at 217 Fourth Ave. SW in the old Kingston section of Cedar Rapids, a 1923 former neighborhood grocery store at 341 12th Ave. SW and a house dating to the 1870s at 1009 Third St. SE in the Bohemian Commercial Historic District.

This house at 112 Second St. SW will be demolished. Built in 1915, it was the longtime home of the Alois Hasek family of Cedar Rapids and most recently the Terra Cottage gift shop. Photo courtesy of Mark Stoffer Hunter

Coming down soon is an interesting former residence at 112 Second St. SW. At the time of the flood in June, it was the home of Terra Cottage, an antiques and gift shop. Built in 1915, it was the longtime home of members of the Alois Hasek family until the mid-1950s. Alois Hasek Sr. was a well-known dentist in Cedar Rapids, his office located in the old Hasek building that once stood at First Street and Second Avenue SE, where the Alliant Tower now stands.

Johnson remembered

The death of former Cedar Rapids Mayor Robert M.L. Johnson on April 13 brought recollections of the last time this city was facing major urban renewal issues.

Johnson was mayor from 1962 through 1967. During those years, planning for the new interstate highway and other downtown area improvement projects resulted in the removal of many old established neighborhoods and landmarks.

A key project that was implemented and completed during Johnson’s term was the massive rebuilding of the First, Second and Third Avenue bridges over the Cedar River from 1963 through 1966. The unique Memorial Plaza and underground parking on May’s Island were a part of that project.

As public safety commissioner in 1957, Johnson, with City Council approval, led the way in establishing the one- way street system for downtown Cedar Rapids.

I enjoyed the opportunity to meet and talk with Johnson at Cottage Grove Place. My condolences to his family. He will be missed.

© 2009, Gazette Communications

By Meredith Hines-Dochterman
The Gazette

MONTICELLO – High school students in Jones County and surrounding areas will have the chance to get a jump-start on their future.

Chris Riemenapp of Hazel Green, Wis., cuts a board in the lobby/atrium of the Kirkwood Community College Jones County Regional Education Center as construction continues on the new building in Monticello. The center is expected to open in August. Photo by Jim Slosiarek.

The Kirkwood Community College Jones Regional Education Center will open in August, providing all the programs available now, plus new college credit options for high school upperclassmen.

Doug Herman, Monticello’s city administrator, called Kirkwood’s expansion a big part of the city’s future.
“You think of a community college as serving people after high school, but this also will bring high school juniors and seniors to the mix,” Herman said.

Kirkwood has had several career academy programs available to high school students to help them make plans for life after school. Three years ago, leaders from Kirkwood and Jones County high schools discussed how the programs could be expanded.

“We knew districts were facing declining enrollments that would result in less funding,” said Kristy Black, director of Jones and Cedar counties for Kirkwood Community College.

That conversation was the first step of the Kirkwood Community College Jones Regional Education Center. The 32,000-square-foot facility will offer nearly a dozen career academy programs for high school students, in addition to the continuing education and college programs available now.

Career academy programs range from an architectural construction academy and graphics academy, to an arts and science academy for students who plan to pursue a four-year degree. The center also will offer advanced high school math and science classes.

Schools and students shared input on program areas, as did local business leaders.

Limestone is stacked, awaiting to be mortared in place, as construction continues on the Kirkwood Community College Jones County Regional Education Center in Monticello. Photo by Jim Slosiarek.

“Students will have the opportunity to attend college, at no cost,” Herman said.

Black said the facility’s location, on the south end of Monticello, made it possible to offer the program to high school students beyond Monticello and Jones County. In all, eight high schools will take advantage of the program — Monticello, Cascade, Maquoketa Valley, Springville, Central City, Anamosa, Oelwein and Midland.

The schools will send a combined total of 200 students to the Kirkwood Community College Jones Regional Education Center every day. Some schools also will send teachers to lead classes at the center.

“There is such a high level of collaboration between the schools and Kirkwood,” Black said. “That partnership led to the new building.”

© Gazette Communications 2009