On a toasty late August afternoon, politicians, educators, and others gathered for the wall breaking ceremony at the new Macomb campus being created for Spoon River College.
The college is renovating a former retail store on East Jackson Street.
“It’s really a milestone event for Spoon River College because it marks the beginning of a new chapter, not only for our college but for the community of Macomb and the region of west central Illinois,” said SRC President Curt Oldfield.
After a few brief speeches, Oldfield and others used hammers produced at Vaughan & Bushnell Manufacturing Company to pound holes into a piece of ceremonial drywall set up outside the building.
After the ceremony, Oldfield pointed out the project has been a long time in the making. The college’s board bought the building in 2006.
Oldfield said the center of the renovated space will be what the college is calling a town square.
“It really is modeled after the Macomb courthouse square where everything kind of revolves around that. In that town square will be all of our student services in a one-stop location,” Oldfield said.
He said classrooms will line the perimeter.
Renovation of the 60,000 square foot building should be completed by next summer, and the college will begin using the facility next fall.
That’s good news for students such as Dominique Henzz. She earned a degree in Communication from Western Illinois University, and is now in her first year of pursuing a nursing degree from SRC.
“I was hospitalized when I was in my senior year of my bachelor’s degree, and I met a nurse when I was in the hospital. And she told me she didn’t pursue nursing as her first degree and let me know that it was possible for me to continue on with nursing even though it wasn’t my first career option,” she said.
Henzz said she chose SRC because it was affordable and the counselors made the transition easy for her.
She’s looking forward to being in the new building because she thinks it will be more vibrant and have a better layout.
Fellow student Haylee Pullon earned her CNA from SRC, and is now in her first year of pursuing an RN degree.
She’s looking forward to the new things that will be available at the new campus. She said the nursing program needs more room for labs and newer things.
“I’m ready and I’m very excited,” Pullon said about the move to the new campus.
She became interested in nursing after taking care of an aunt who had cancer.
“I love taking care of people. I love working with people. So, going into the healthcare field will get me to be able to work with more people,” Pullon said.
The SRC Macomb campus has been located in the former Macomb High School building at Johnson and Washington streets since 1983. Oldfield said the building is still in great shape, but the college has outgrown it as it strives to add more space for career and tech programs.
He said the college has already heard from potential buyers of the building.
“We’ve had quite a bit of interest be expressed,” Oldfield said. “It’s nice to know there’s interest and I think people recognize that the building has a lot of potential still left in it.”
He said the extra space will allow the college to create new programs such as robotics repair technician and industrial maintenance, and expand current offerings such as nursing and welding.
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