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KC Phase II opens new opportunities

The dream of continued growth at the Vandalia campus of Kaskaskia College moved one step closer to reality with last week’s unveiling of the college’s plans for Phase II of the project.
It’s an exciting next step for the campus, which opened with the 22,000-square-foot Simma-Kelly Education Building in 2008. Prior to that, the college operated out of rented facilities in Vandalia.
The proposed $7.3 million addition will be a 25,317-square-foot structure that will complement the original building. It will be located to the south of the Simma-Kelly building and will begin to define the central campus commons area.
It will include six multi-purpose rooms, a fine arts and performing arts venue, a distance-learning classroom, a nursing and allied health classroom, a nursing lab, two computer classrooms, an industrial lab, three business incubator offices, faculty offices, a student commons area, a conference room and a warming kitchen.
It’s a project that’s well justified by the growing enrollment at the local campus. And it will provide much-needed classroom space as the local center offers more educational options for the people of our area.
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has included $5.6 million for the project in the current capital budget. And the state Capital Development Board has given its approval for the planning and design phases to go forward.
Kaskaskia College President Dr. James Underwood said that bid specifications should be ready “in the early part of 2013, with construction to start in early spring.”
All of those plans hinge on the state actually releasing the funds, however. That was a problem with the first phase of the campus. We encourage local legislators to make sure that those funds materialize, as promised, for this second phase.
Meanwhile, it’s exciting to see the growth of our local campus. In its old rented facility, it was serving about 500. Since moving to the new building, that number has skyrocketed to about 1,500. It’s apparent that we need the room to keep the educational opportunities conveniently available for the residents – both young and old – of our area.
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