Ground broken on CCC development project
Columbus campus reviving its science and technology campus
By News Channel NebraskaA new development coming to the Central Community College Columbus Campus officially got underway yesterday.
The Columbus Community Hospital Center for Science and Technology will revamp some of the schools decades-old science facilities.
“The center for science and technology will allow those students to step into a very updated, state-of-the-art kind of facility that will mirror what they’ll find as they move into the workplace,” said Kathy Fuchser, president of the CCC Columbus campus.
The plan for the building began two years ago, and officially broke ground yesterday.
CCC Foundation Executive Director Dean Moors says the construction will cost a little over $4 million, with $500,000 going toward technological upgrades, including a virtual innovation lab that will use virtual reality for immersive learning environments. The new development will cover 33,500 square feet.
Moors said yesterday’s groundbreaking was part of CCC’s five-year facilities master plan.
"Within that plan, they established strategic projects that will become the No. 1 college-wide project. And one of those projects was the Center for Science and Technology," Moors said.
After working on projects at CCC's Kearney Center and Hastings Campus, Moors said the focus turned to this project for the Columbus Campus in the fall of 2018.
In the spring of 2019, the college did a feasibility study, followed by confidential interviews and two summits where the feedback toward the college was positive, Moors said.
After that, the college moved forward with the campaign. Moors said a gift in August 2019 from the project's lead donor, Columbus Community Hospital (CCH), really got the ball rolling.
When Moors spoke during the ceremony, he said the college has $380,000 left to raise for the campaign, which he said he was confident would be done by the end of the year with help from surrounding communities, including Schuyler, Stromsburg and CCC alumni.
The expansion project is expected to be finished by Spring of 2023.