McCook Community College

McCOOK, Neb. — In the wake of the unexpected death of McCook Community College Speech and Theater Instructor Clay Grizzle, the college has announced several opportunities to help his family, his college family, and the community, celebrate his life and the impact he made...

Former McCook Community College basketball player Brehanna Daniels, who became the first African American woman to pit a car in a national NASCAR race in July, will add another athletic endeavor to her resume and she’ll be doing it on prime-time network television...

McCOOK, Neb. — The fourth annual McCook Community College science symposium is set for 1 p.m. Friday at the Weeth Theater in Tipton Hall. MCC freshman Ethan Wilcox will present his findings from an experiment he did this semester on roly polies. In addition, his instructor Rob Bogardus, will present his own research on tree swallows. The event is free and open to the public...

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. — Once the center of social activities for McCook, the former Elks Club will be cleared of asbestos in preparation for its new life as a college campus. Meeting in North Platte on Wednesday, the Mid-Plains Community College board of governors approved a bid from Kearney-based Great Plains Asbestos Control for $74,300 to do complete abatement and disposal of asbestos-containing materials for the building, now called the McCook Community College East Campus...

McCOOK, Neb. — It’s has taken many years to revise this local on-stage “partnership” but On Nov. 10th McCook Community College and McCook High School’s theater and music departments are collaborating – about 65 strong -- to present “High School Musical.”...

McCOOK, Neb. — Twenty-five thousand dollars is up for grabs for local business startup or expansion in this year’s Hormel Entrepreneurship Competition, but the application deadline is Nov. 30. Through a partnership with McCook Community College and Southwest Nebraska area business sponsors, the Hormel Entrepreneurship Competition helps local business startups or expansion using business plan writing and a business grant...

McCOOK, Neb. — A public “meet and greet” for McCook Community College’s next top leader is set for Monday from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Kelly Rippen, who has served as Mid-Plains Community College’s Area Dean of Enrollment Management since 2011, was recently named Vice President of McCook Community College and Area Vice President of Student Affairs...

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. — The Mid-Plains Community College board of governors is proposing a budget $1 million higher than last year. Meeting Wednesday in North Platte, the board agreed to publish a proposed total 2018-19 budget of $42,315,104, including general fund expenditures of $26,852,913 and capital fund expenditures of $5,154,509...

McCOOK, Neb. — With the start of fall classes Sunday at McCook Community College, enrollment numbers are again looking strong, but what has college officials really excited this year is the record number of returning students and the increasing number of top-tier academic students now choosing MCC...

McCOOK, Neb. — Chuck Salestrom, area vice president of public information and marketing, was honored upon his retirement at a meeting of the Mid-Plains Community College board of governors Wednesday night. He will retire Aug. 3. In other business, the board approved a bid from Arthur J. Gallagher and Co., the college’s current insurance provider, for athletic insurance for the 2018-19 academic year. The company submitted the low bid of $71,900...

BROKEN BOW, Neb. — Without going into a scheduled executive session, the Mid Plains Board of Governors approved a new three-year contract for MPCC President Ryan Purdy. The contract pays $230,000 per year, a 1.5 percent increase, and adjusts the retirement match to the same 9 percent match received by other Mid-Plains employees...

Tickets go on sale Monday for the 2018 Mid-Plains Community College raffle car. This year’s car is a 1932 Ford Roadster. It was built by students in MPCC’s Classic Car Restoration, Automotive Technology and Auto Body Technology programs and is the result of a partnership with Lincoln-based Speedway Motors. ...

McCOOK, Neb. — Jessica Bortner, RN, BSN, MBA, was hired as the Community Hospital Health Foundation Executive Director, according to Troy Bruntz, Community Hospital President and CEO. Her duties begin May 29. Bortner is replacing Terri Shipshock, who retires in June...

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. — Mid-Plains Community College administrators will receive a 2.33 percent salary package increase following action by the board of governors Wednesday night. The increase was the same as that negotiated for faculty salaries. President Ryan Purdy’s contract is separate and was tabled until the June 27 meeting...

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. — Contracts for non-negotiated staff and the college president are on the agenda for the Mid-Plains Board of Governors meeting this week. It is set for Wednesday at the North Campus of North Platte Community College, Room 200 of the W.W. Wood Building. A work session is set for 4:30 p.m. and the regular meeting follows at 6:30 p.m...

McCOOK, Neb. — Nigerian native Chinedu Okonkwo, selected as student speaker for McCook Community College’s commencement ceremonies today, appropriately enough, quoted his mother two days before Mother’s Day. “My mother always says to me, that son, “Ije uwa adiro ezi” (I bet your mother says that once in a while to you). ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a step.’...

McCOOK, Neb. — McCook Community College math instructor Susi Curl was named winner of the 2017-18 Dr. Gene A. Budig Outstanding Faculty Award at MCC. Budig, an MCC graduate, provides a $1,000 award each year to recognize and honor outstanding educators...

McCOOK, Neb. — Barely one month after thinking he’d realized the dream of a lifetime in McCook, Chinedu Myles Okonkwo -- from the Enugu state of Nigeria, Africa -- crawled into his bed in Brooks Hall, screamed into his pillow, and wept in shame. As a McCook Community College freshman, he’d missed a few classes, he’d disappointed his basketball coaches, his body was betraying him, and he dreaded going to practice, where his deficiencies would be on blatant display...

McCOOK, Neb. — Lynn Salyer was teaching high school math and science in Medicine Valley in the early 1980s and was making plans to abandon teaching to become a part of the new wave of technological opportunities being created in the home computer industry...