LEADERSHIP KEARNEY CLASS #34 DECEMBER SESSION

Leadership Kearney class #34 had a full day of education on their plate. The morning started out with an education panel consisting of Kyle Heilbrun (Principal of the new Cottonwood Elementary), Niki Deeds (Kearney Public School board member), Jean Anderson (Special Education Director at ESU 10), Kristin Ohri (Kearney Catholic High School board member) and Megan Schmidt (Principal at Bright Futures Preschool). The group talked about how their roles interact and affect the development of education in our community. We also heard a few of their hot topics of discussion such as budgeting, changes in school sports uniform colors, school safety and the integration of AI in the classrooms.

Next we traveled to Bright Futures Preschool where we again met up with Megan Schmidt. She gave a welcoming tour into the operations of the Preschool and how they utilize every inch of the building for early childhood development. We heard about some of the special programs such as Parents as Teachers, the Migrant Program and Home Visitors. The Home Visitors can support up to 60 families. Each of these programs support both the children in their educational development and their parental engagement.

Next up, we traveled to the UNK Cope Stadium for one of the class's favorite opportunities, an presentation in proper meal etiquette by Kearney’s Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Board member and Century 21 Midlands realtor Brandon Benitz. Brandon shared with the class everything from where your name tag should be, to correct utensil placement to figuring out which place setting is actually yours at a large dinner party. The class also learned proper way to carry items in your left hand so you are ready to shake hands with your right. 

After lunch the class traveled to UNMC’s new building, the Douglas A. Kristensen Rural Health Education Complex that opens up next month. We were met by Nicole Campbell, Director of Operations and Community Engagement, who gave us incite into the almost complete project. The $114 million facility helps expand the nursing program and bring new opportunities such as medicine, pharmacy, and mental health to the surrounding communities. Advanced simulation labs and clinical laboratories, with state of the art classrooms, will soon be at the fingertips to around 600 UNMC students. The program hopes to have around 250 students graduate per year. 

Next up was a tour of Kearney High School’s new Performance and Activity wing. Trent Bosard, Facilities Director for KPS, Kent Cordes, BD Construction Project Manager, Jeffery Hoppenstedt, BD Site Superintendent, and Jacob Sertich, Wilkins Architecture Design Planning Principal Architect, walked us through the 32,000 square foot addition. The $9.3 million building will house a girls wrestling room, air riffle range and indoor drill area, a Dance Catz practice room and large turf multipurpose practice space that will be used for several teams/activities. One of the advanced features is the auto-tinted glass on the large south side windows. When the build is complete the school also plans to add another south parking lot with about 100 stalls. With this addition, KHS will be the biggest high school in the state at almost 400,000 square feet. 

The last stop for the class was at Central Community College where we met with Vice President of Community and Workforce Education, Kelly Christensen. Kelly spoke about the large service area that CCC’s 3 campuses (Kearney, Grand Island and Columbus) cover. He also talked about the dual credit opportunities that the 80 high schools in the CCC area can obtain. Next, we heard from Jared Petit, head of the Mechatronics program. Jared talked about the collaborative training for mechanic systems, electrical circuitry, automation, and robotics. We were privileged to see some of the lego-robots that local 9-14 year olds had built with their support. Katie Holmes from the Admissions department finished off the tour showing the class the Nursing Simulations lab, Veterans and Military Support Center, and all the classrooms.