The Garden City Telegram
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Welcome to the party — GCCC's 90th
Published 9/12/2009 in GCCC Anniversary
By MONICA SPRINGER
One of the first promotional fliers Garden City Community College distributed in its first years offers two incentives for students: the college is near home with excellent instruction.
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Brad Nading/Telegram — Garden City Community College Calculus I students listen to instuctor Judy Stubblefield, left, explain an equation in August 2009 during a class session.
Those two things still haven't changed 90 years later, said Steve Quakenbush, director of information services for GCCC.
On Sunday, the college and the community will celebrate GCCC's 90th birthday with music, food, games, contests, events and activities from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. on GCCC's campus.
GCCC is one of two surviving Kansas community colleges that opened 90 years ago this fall.
"We're honored to be carrying on a legacy of quality, life-changing education and service that began nine decades ago in Garden City," GCCC President Carol Ballantyne said. "And I think that merits a birthday party."
GCCC is planning to provide birthday cake at 3:30 p.m. in front of the library. There will be enough cake for about 400, and the GCCC Jazz Ensemble will provide entertainment.
GCCC's students and staff will take part in the celebration, along with community members. While cake is being served and games are played, the college also will be celebrating what it has become: more than just a community college for traditional degree-seeking students.
Today there are more than 300 non-credit courses online, 100 students take English as a Second Language courses and are getting their GED. The college also serves about 250 refugees, said Kathy McKinley, dean of continuing education and community services.
That means many people, including students who are degree seeking and those who aren't, will be celebrating GCCC's birthday.
The celebration also includes:
* A free barbecue meal for the first 400 visitors, starting at 1:30 p.m. in front of Saffell Library.
* Three live local bands performing simultaneously from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. The Fulton Street band is offering '60s rock, with a touch of classic country, in front of the Dennis Perryman Athletic Complex, with Los Hermanos Ortiz y Amigos -- The Ortiz Brothers and Friends -- providing Tex-Mex selections in front of the Pauline Joyce Fine Arts Building. Third Degree, performing blues and blues rock, will be appearing in front of the Academic Building.
* Games, booths, contests and activities from 1:30 to 4 p.m. across the campus, staged by student groups, athletic teams and community organizations.
Organizers also are setting up photos and artifacts from GCCC's history that will be on display in the walk-through gallery, adjacent to the portico of the Beth Tedrow Student Center, and in the Student and Community Services Center.
There will be an original 1919 edition of the college's first student manual of studies, a copy of the college's first commencement program, bricks from Calkins Hall, which was part of GCCC's original campus, and the shovel used for breaking ground on the present campus in 1967.
There also will be more than 50 photographs, posters and fliers from GCCC's history, ranging from scenes on the present and past campuses to an early 20th Century portrait of Ernest F. Monroe, the college's first dean.
There also will be open houses for GCCC's programs and buildings.
College officials also plan to bury a time capsule on campus after the celebration. In addition to mementos, photos and video footage of the day's events, the capsule will include entry forms for children and others in a 100th anniversary scholarship drawing.
Ballantyne said GCCC will award 10 scholarships of $200 each on GCCC's 100th anniversary in 2019, when today's third-graders reach college age.
Children can fill out their entry forms at the celebration and drop them directly into the time capsule.
On the Web:
Listen to a podcast of Steve Quakenbush, information services director with Garden City Community College, discussing the history of the college and Sunday's 90th anniversary celebration at GCTelegram.com/podcasts.
Garden City Community College: www.gcccks.edu
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