Expansion of MPCC Imperial Campus reaches halfway mark

Adjunct instructor Shona Heim teaches a psychology class via distance learning in a newly constructed community room at the MPCC Imperial Campus on Monday. 

Mid-Plains Community College is more than halfway through the expansion of its Imperial Campus. 

A 2,500-square-foot addition was added to the north end of the existing facility between July and January. The addition consists of two new classrooms, a multi-purpose community room, an office that will also serve as a storm shelter, restrooms, a mechanical room and a storage room. 

The addition was finished in January, and all of the furniture and equipment from the original section of the building was moved into it so that classes could continue uninterrupted. 

The second phase of the expansion project officially began in February. Crews are currently remodeling the south end of the facility – renovating the distance learning classroom, creating a testing room, adding a simulation lab to the health sciences classroom and updating the building entryway. 

Once completed, the Imperial Campus will be better set up to meet the needs of students, businesses and industries in the southwest corner of its service area. 

Since the campus opened at its current location in 2008, it has provided the Chase County region with both traditional and non-traditional classes, business and targeted industry trainings and a variety of avocational and recreational courses. 

A steady increase in full-time enrollment as well as additional partnerships with local businesses and industries resulted in a need for more space to accommodate enhanced workforce training, state-of-the-art mobile equipment and advancements in distance learning technology. 

The expansion will provide more opportunities for additional enrollment in nursing, CPR and Emergency Medical Services. Not only will there be increased class space for general education/transfer courses, but the multi-purpose room can also be used for on-site, applied technology courses and new hands-on learning opportunities. 

Those opportunities could include everything from meetings and business trainings to children's classes and community education workshops, according to Brenda Ledall, Imperial Campus administrator. 

The expansion was made possible thanks in part to the support of generous donors. In addition to MPCC's contribution toward the $925,000 cost of the project, funding came from the City of Imperial, the Chase County Board of Commissioners, donations from several local businesses and organizations and the William and Ruth Scott Family Foundation of Omaha. 

Wayne Dowhower Construction, Inc., of North Platte, is the contractor for the project. 

The goal is to complete the expansion by July of 2021.