Old college memories live again

Climb aboard. It's time for a trip down memory lane.

To start our journey, let's go all the way back to 1926 in a town called McCook in the middle of America.

As we come upon the scene, two men are taking a drive to visit about a pioneering idea for higher education in Nebraska.

"I think McCook should have a junior college," said Charles Boyle, one of McCook's pioneering lawyers.

And the man who was with him that day, McCook superintendent of schools J.A. True, agreed. Days later, the superintendent took the idea to the McCook Board of Education. After consideration and discussion, the board approved the idea, authorizing Superintendent True to commence with the organization of a junior college in McCook.

The idea took shape immediately, with the first students starting classes at the then-new YMCA building at Main (now Norris) and E streets.

More than 75 years have passed since those fateful days when McCook educators made Nebraska history by starting -- from scratch -- a two-year institution of higher learning.

Now, it's time to pay tribute to Nebraska's first junior college ... to join in celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of a center of learning that has contributed so much to the McCook community and to the thousands of men and women who have attended classes there.

In tribute to the college's anniversary, the McCook Campus of the Mid-Plains Community College Area has joined with the McCook Daily Gazette to present a 24-page, broadsheet edition filled with stories about college life between 1926-27 and 2001-02.

The edition was organized and designed by Gloria Masoner, the Gazette's city editor and special section coordinator. She did a superb job.

Special thanks also go out to Chuck Salestrom, director of public information for the Mid-Plains Community College Area. Chuck met with Gloria on several occasions, offering ideas and guidance for the college salute.

While Gloria and Chuck were the producers and directors of the edition, it was former and current students, faculty members, administrators and board members who made the edition so very, very special.

Their stories make the edition a collector's classic that will be a treasured keepsake for many years to come.

Thanks to all who had a part in this historic edition. Nebraska's first junior college is more than an institution of higher learning. It is a part of us ... a special place ... which has changed the lives of thousands of students and uplifted the image and spirit of the town of McCook and the surrounding area of Southwest Nebraska and Northwest Kansas.