Couple treasures community college experience

Couple treasures community college experience

Emily and Reese Dellevoet of Elm Creek loved their Mid-Plains Community College experience.

The high school sweethearts both attended McCook Community College, a division of MPCC, after graduating from McCook High School.

Emily started classes at MCC in 2020 at the height of the COVID pandemic.

“The way it worked out was too perfect,” said Emily. “I was still having class when all my friends at the university were stuck in their dorm rooms.”

Reese took a gap year to pursue an internship in Kearney and enrolled at MCC the following year.

“Financially, it was the best for our situation to attend community college,” said Emily who lived at home with her parents, both MCC alumni, until the couple got married in 2021.

“The quality of education isn’t any less because you pay less,” Reese added. “Education is education.”

They recall their time together at MCC, both as education majors, with fondness.

Reese remembers walking Emily to class and still having time to get to his class because of the small campus size.

“It was fun when we had classes together because the teachers thought we were siblings,” Emily said. “That was always a good laugh.”

Being married, the Dellevoets lived off campus and didn’t experience dorm life. However, they said there was never a lack of activities or people to meet.

Emily loved going to the library for hot chocolate and chats with her classmates. Another favorite highlight was being on the Homecoming court.

“I made some lifelong friends at MCC through classes and extracurriculars, like PTK. It was such a small school and everyone’s so nice there,” recalled Emily. “Even though it’s small, I met so many people from across the United States and even across the world.”

Reese was involved in intramural sports including sand volleyball, ultimate Frisbee and basketball. He was vice-president of his class, enjoyed sitting in on some interesting meetings and organizing activities like trunk-or-treat.

A favorite highlight was participating in a campus leadership group where he learned how to better the community and be an exemplary member of the community.

“You’re not going to miss out on anything at a community college,” Reese said. “If you want to be supported by a community, go to MCC,” said Reese.

The instructors are another reason the Dellevoets had such a positive experience at community college.

“I can’t pick a favorite because all of them were so phenomenal,” said Reese. “You get a personal relationship with every single one of your professors. And it’s hard to beat the small class sizes. You’re not in a lecture hall with 400 other people. My statistics class had 5 people in it,” said Reese.

Emily earned an associate of science in 2022 and transferred to UNK with pursuit of early childhood inclusive.

“I was so close with my classmates at MCC, and it was so fun to see them on the big campus,” said Emily after transferring. “We could really bond over our time in McCook.”

MCC instructors Loretta Hauxwell and Tyler Esch impacted her career choice.  

“I still have my notes from some of Loretta’s classes,” Emily said.

It was in Hauxwell’s class that Emily learned she is a visual learner and needs to see the big picture.

“All these different ways of learning I have brought to my career in special education,” said Emily. “Every kid is different, every child learns differently.” 

Emily is currently a preschool special education teacher at Lexington Public Schools. “A lot of these three-year-olds have lived more life than I have.” Emily said. “It’s nice that I can be their safe space.”  

Reese graduated from UNK in December of 2024, did his student teaching this past fall and is currently a long-term sub teaching math at Sunrise Middle School in Kearney.

“The ability to communicate with other adults is something that I really picked up on at MCC. That led to being able to approach and talk to professors at UNK, which then translates to going and talking to principals, other admin or teachers within the building,” said Reese.

“The number of opportunities at MCC are invaluable,” Reese said. “It prepared us for life.”

Emily and Reese are parents to 16-month-old Ashton. A future MPCC graduate, perhaps?