As the completion of several renovation projects neared, administrators at Allen Community College knew something special was taking place. Everything was ahead of schedule and, more importantly, it was under budget.
The school is gaining national recognition for the project and will soon be featured in College Planning and Management magazine.
?Each year they (College Planning and Management) do a design showcase and you get schools from all around the country submit their projects. They pick a list of award winners and we got contacted and were told that we were chosen for a project distinction recognition,? Brian Counsil, who serves as Vice President of Finance and Operations for the school said.
One of the most impressive feats administrators saw was the renovation of the school?s cafeteria in just 90 days. Lloyd Builders, based out of Ottawa, worked feverishly from the end of May until the beginning of August to complete the cafeteria before the start of the fall semester.
?They had to have that done in a three month period. We have 300 students that live on campus and depend on the cafeteria for their meals. We were not going to bring in food trucks,? Counsil said. ?We needed a fully functional cafeteria.?
ACC broke ground on the $5.8 million renovation project back in April of 2018 and it was completed in December.
The response from students and staff alike has given the school a sense of pride in their facilities.
?The response from admissions and our coaching staff about how this helps with recruiting is amazing,? Counsil said. ?Past students were kind of tongue-in-cheek upset that we did it after they left. Even the ones that were in their last year were coming up to us at graduation saying I kind of wish I was coming back for one more year. Hearing that from the students is such a good feeling. It?s a feeling we want to replicate. Obviously you can?t do that every fall but we would like to steadily make improvements.?
Renovating ACC?s cafeteria was a major hurdle that Lloyd Builders completed in a matter of 90 days. Construction crews began working on the cafeteria last June and had it finished a week before classes began in the fall.
Surrounding schools took notice as well. Even the president of friendly rival Neosho County Community College complimented the school.
?He (Brian Inbody) visited when we were near completion and was just in awe,? Counsil said. ?The community colleges in Kansas are very supportive of one another. We all help each other out. We share ideas. We traveled all over Kansas looking for ideas when we went into this project. Each school shared what students liked about their projects and what they didn?t like. That really helps when you are investing so much money into something. And we will gladly share information about this project with them. Every school gets a sense of pride when someone asks to come tour their facilities.?
One idea that ACC took from other schools was using Lloyd Builders, who has done projects at Ottawa University, Johnson County Community College and NCCC.
ACC was so pleased with the project that they recently hired Tyler Fredricks as their new Director of Physical Plant Operations, who oversaw the project for Lloyd Builders as assistant superintendent for the company. Fredricks is set to start working at ACC in two weeks.
?We got to witness him first hand running this project. He is a motivator. Heading into that summer when we had to get the cafeteria completed we saw him encourage his guys to get it completed. He didn?t scream or yell, he led by example. We are very fortunate to have him coming to work for us. He is exactly what we need here,? Counsil said.
Counsil hinted that the school has new projects on the horizon that have not been brought to the Board of Trustees yet. He said the school is in the planning stages of building a new activities center.
