(KLZA)-- The Southeast Community College Board of Governors has approved  opening six College Outreach Centers in the15-county service area. Those locations will be Falls City, Nebraska City, Plattsmouth, Hebron, Wahoo and York.  These will be in addition to the SCC campuses in Lincoln, Milford and Beatrice.  

Southeast Community College President Dr. Paul Illich told a group gathered at Prichard Auditorium Tuesday afternoon that selecting sites that would impact the most people and internet connectivity were important factors in selecting a site. Research indicated there are 53,000 people within a 35-mile radius of Falls City. With the sites selected,  everyone living the 15-county Southeast Community College service area is within 35 miles of one of the centers of the existing SCC sites at Beatrice, Lincoln or Milford. 

Dr. Illich said the Falls City Outreach Center would offer an open computer lab for on-line courses, some contract training courses and interactive training courses. These classes will offer students classes in addition to the continuing education classes such as the LPN nursing program that already exist in Falls City.

Surveys and visits with residents, businesses, manufactures and agriculture producers will help determine the programs offered in Falls City.

Dr. Illich credited State Senator Dan Watermeier and Beckie Cromer with EDGE for their persistence in pushing for creation of the Outreach Centers.  Illich says the SCC Board of Governors has included the outreach center in the budget so this is not going to be a short-term experiment. The long-term commitment will give the program a chance to see what is working. 

Illich said there is a committee looking for sites to locate the outreach center in all six communities.  He said they have a couple places in Falls City Ideally the site would be 5-10,000 square feet.  Money had been budgeted to remodel the site and make it a high quality learning environment.  

Falls City Public School Superintendent Tim Heckinlively thanked Dr. Illich and the SCC Board for selecting Falls City and said this will be a good thing for District 56. Falls City Public Schools have been looking for ways to offer more technical training skills for students, especially in the areas of welding and manufacturing. This should also help with some career path decisions for students.

The goal is to have the outreach center up and running by June, 2016.