New LCC Dorm One Year Out

Site of New Dorm, Due North of Cafeteria

By this time next year, the first of three proposed dorm pods will be open to students at Lamar Community College. LCC President, John Marrin, told the Prowers County Commissioners the college is about $300,000 shy from the target price of $1,250,000 needed for construction. Marrin added, “We’re working with the city and the county and that should help reduce the overall costs.” The college president had said earlier that some infrastructure work could be donated through in-kind contributions from those entities as well as Lamar Light and Power. Joint meetings have been held in past months to outline those areas. “The college is waiting on construction documents and the code reviewer and architect are going over final blueprints before we submit our plan to the state board in November,” he explained. Marrin told the commissioners the project should be finished in time for next year’s fall semester. “There will be no problem filling the dorm as soon as it’s open. This is one of the best investments we could make,” he said.

The dorm will be built in the open area north of the current dorm and the main parking lot, replacing some volleyball courts. It will house 28 students in 14 units. Marrin said the addition will open the door for increased enrollment which will contribute to the money needed for the remaining two dorms. Some students are living off campus this semester. He mentioned that one wing of the current dorm was opened to accommodate some early students in the athletics program. “It’s hard to open only one wing and keep it cooled and the new dorm would have been ideal for that,” he explained.

There is strong enrollment for the fall semester at LCC. Marrin said the business curriculum classes are now in two sections with 50 students signed up, the welding course is seeing gains, 60 players are in school for the basketball program and the Horse-Training and Management and Equine program has doubled their numbers up to 80 from last year’s 40. He added that the nursing program is also ‘packed’. There is more room to expand the student base next year with the introduction of a former program. “We’re working on re-establishing our international program for next fall and get ready to set that up for additional students,” he stated.

By Russ Baldwin