The Communique

Issue date: 10/29/09 Section: News

An open house was held Oct. 15 to dedicate the new Jones County Regional Education Center in Monticello. Construction began in October of last year and the building was open for classes in August.

The Jones Regional Education Center opened this fall with an enrollment of 174 college and high school students. The KTS (Kirkwood Television System) room is just one of many features that allows students to pursue college degrees and high school students to take courses for college credit.

Kirkwood Community College art professor Conifer Smith, along with art major Jesse Ahrendsen, constructed a blown glass sculpture over the summer for the new education center in Monticello. The sculpture was installed in September.

The Kirkwood Community College Jones Regional Education Center opened its doors this fall to 174 students.

Located along Highway 151 in Monticello, the center is on eight acres donated by the Lloyd and Joyce Welter family of Monticello.

The center, which began construction in October 2008, is 32,000 square feet and cost a little more than $6 million to build, according to Kristy Black, Jones and Cedar counties director.

It has classrooms, a health science lab, a welding lab, an automotive technology lab, an architectural construction lab and three computer labs.

According to Black, the center provides students the opportunity to earn a college degree, take continuing education classes or obtain a GED.

It is a site for alternative high school and also allows high school students to earn college credits.

"Kirkwood has partnered with eight school districts in our community (Anamosa, Cascade/Western Dubuque, Central City, Maquoketa Valley, Midland, Monticello, Olin and Springville) to provide high school students an opportunity to take college-level courses and get a jump-start on their college careers," Black said.

Black said participating high schools signed a 10-year contract allotting them seats to fill.

"The bigger the high school, the more seats they were allotted," she said. "For instance, Monticello has 50 or 60 seats, while a smaller school might have 12."

The high schools are billed $2,100 for each seat at the end of the year to cover operating costs.

"This is a chance for the high schools to help create learning opportunities that the students wouldn't receive otherwise," Black said.

Anamosa School District Superintendent Dale Morris said the center benefits high school students in two important ways.

"This allows students to take classes that they normally wouldn't have access to because of budget and other things," he said.

"It also benefits them because they are able to utilize the state-of-the-art facilities and technology that is right in our backyard."

Kyle Koontz, a senior at Olin High School, is taking an engineering course at the center. "I took all the drafting classes I could at my high school but I just wanted to learn more about engineering," he said. "I'm finding out it's a lot harder than my high school courses."

According to Black, this is a great opportunity for the community. "We've come so far. There's no way we could have done it without the support of others," she said.

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