CCC Office of the President - Seth Carter

Greetings from Colby Community College.

We hope everyone is doing well. The fall 2025 semester is already almost over. I continue to be in awe of how quickly the semesters go. On behalf of the College, thank you for your continued support and efforts to make Northwest Kansas such an incredible place. The College has been working on a variety of new initiatives and has received several accolades. Several of these recognitions and initiatives will be covered in this article.

Colby Community College was recognized by WalletHub as being in the top 2% of all community and technical colleges in the nation. In addition, the College has been named an Aspen Prize Top 200 U.S. Community College. This is a competitive process that will eventually lead to the top community/technical college in the nation. The winner of this honor will receive a $1,000,000 grant. The College is actively working on the required data and narrative submission for this project. We will know the results by mid-2026.

The volleyball team's season came to an end, finishing as the 13th-best team in the nation. Coach Jones and her team had an incredible season, and this finish marks the second-highest in College history. The young ladies did an incredible job and have so much to be proud of.

The College’s 60 for 60 campaign has been a resounding success. The goal was to create 60 new endowed scholarships for our 60 years of operation. To date, the Endowment has received 138 new endowed scholarships. This incredible outcome exceeds our initial goal by 130%. Endowment Director Rickford has done an amazing job, and we are so humbled and blessed by the community's support. These scholarships change students' lives and make a college education possible. The scholarships remove barriers and provide access to post-secondary education for students who would not otherwise have the opportunity.

Colby Community College has almost completed updates to the Ceramics building. This project included installing new kiln ventilation and air conditioners in the space and is anticipated to be completed before the new year.

The College is currently receiving bids for a new 80-bed dormitory and a maintenance shed. The new dorm will go where our current maintenance shed is located. The rationale for placing it in this area is that minimal dirt work will save money, and it ties directly into our current residential living and spaces parking structure. Ultimately, we will have a maintenance shed that is twice the size of our current facility. This renovation and campus improvement will position the College for success for decades to come.

The creation of the new dorm and maintenance shed will not be financed through a bond issuance or any additional tax burden. The College has meticulously planned this facility. The impetus of the project was to create additional residential housing and bring more students into our community. Additionally, the College will not be fundraising for this project. We are extremely cognizant and grateful for the philanthropy of our community, but we are also aware that many meaningful community projects are underway, and we do not want to detract or distract from their creation.

As always, if you have not been on campus lately, please stop by. The College will continue to improve and be a vital resource to our community. We fully realize, however, that without community support, we could not achieve these goals. Thank you all, stay safe, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Respectfully,

Seth Macon Carter

President, Colby Community College