Remaking Agriculture Program part of Southeast Community College Beatrice Campus future

BEATRICE – Southeast Community College is focused on a new Agriculture Program Master plan for the Beatrice Campus.
Its aimed at replacing an Agriculture Campus designed back in 1981 and includes moving the SCC John Deere Program to Beatrice.  It is currently located in Milford.

"It's fun to watch the number of cars that will just drive by from the community to see where we're at. As we start planning the ag complex and bringing John Deere down to campus, we know that fundraising is going to a key part, or element of that. And, I think what I've seen is that the community has said, Southeast Community College is serious about the Beatrice campus, they're serious about our students and they're really serious about where we're headed in the future. I think that's going to help get behind really growing this campus, because there's more community involvement and talk now than there ever has been about this particular campus."

Beatrice Campus Director Bob Morgan says the agriculture master plan carries the potential to boost enrollment.

"We talked about this a couple of years ago when we started getting together and taking a look at the three campuses and trying to figure out, what fits really where. We decided it really made a lot of sense to move John Deere Tech and John Deere Construction to the Beatrice Campus. the programs are in complimentary business space. The ag kids certainly know what the John Deere program is, the John Deere program certainly knows about agriculture and farmland. The second thing that is a great opportunity is that the programs will benefit from the land lab use and exploration."

Morgan says the campus has adequate space for the changes, both indoors and outdoor lab space. "Your're bringing together the folks that fix the equipment with the folks that use the equipment. The John Deere Tech folks and the John Deere construction folks can really sit down with the ag folks, and they can compare their experiences about how they actually work together."

The new John Deere facility would be located between a former business campus building and the campus dining hall, and would have about 61,000 square feet with expansion capability.

Another long-term goal is to finish off the Academic Excellence Center that was just built last year….adding a new fine arts area. Prior to that project, a new residence hall and dining facility were completed.

There are plans to demolish Adams Hall and Jackson Hall, the remaining old Beatrice campus buildings that are past their lifespans. That area will become greenspace that could be transformed in the future to baseball and softball field space.

A final step is future renovation of the Truman Center, the home of competitive basketball and volleyball programs. SCC has added to its intercollegiate athletic programs and more room is also needed for student and staff wellness activities.  This past year, SCC added a natural grass soccer field just north of the Truman Center.

In the words of Morgan, who also serves as Vice President of Program Development, the campus is “100-percent different than when I got here in 2001”.
The school’s Board of Governors held a work session on Thursday, discussing the next phase of improvements at the Beatrice, Lincoln and Milford Campuses.