It’s safe to say Allen Community College means a lot to the Schinstock household.
Corey Schinstock is a 1994 graduate; his daughter Kailey just finished school at Allen; and youngest daughter Kinsey, who’s still in Iola High School, is taking concurrent enrollment classes at ACC as well.
So the idea of serving on the college’s board of trustees just seemed to make sense. “And I like to stay busy,” he noted. “I figure this is something I can give back to.”
Schinstock is one of five hopefuls running for three seats on the ACC Board of Trustees.
He and fellow challengers Alana Cloutier and Roger Campbell (a write-in hopeful) are challenging incumbents Vicki Curry and Gena Clounch. (Profiles on Curry and Cloutier ran previously.)
Schinstock, a 28-year employee for the City of Iola, has worked for the past 12 years as assistant city administrator.
He recounted a recent discussion with neighbor Lonnie Larson, who sits on the board but declined to run again, who encouraged Schinstock to consider running.
“I kind of laughed it off, but then I thought this is one place I could realistically run for,” Schinstock said. “With my daughters getting older, my evenings are becoming more free.”
Schinstock has coached both of his daughters’ traveling softball teams. But with both at or near college age, those days are in his rear view mirror.
“And I think I’ve got some experience on this side of the desk that I can offer some insight on certain decisions,” he said. “The idea of serving on the college board kept becoming more intriguing.”
Schinstock has spoken with ACC President Bruce Moses on multiple occasions — primarily on infrastructure-related projects — which gives him insight on upcoming discussions about the college’s facilities.
“This is just from me visiting with Bruce, and I’ve been on different boards with John (Masterson, former college president), and I know housing is going to be one of their biggest challenges,” Schinstock said. “They have some aging infrastructure as far as buildings go. Their two dorms (Horton and Winter Halls) are pretty bad.
“I have some knowledge on utilities and things of that nature that might be helpful in that realm,” he continued.
That said, Schinstock acknowledges his first allegiance would remain with the city. He’d likely recuse himself from any decision-making on city-college negotiations.
“But, to be quite honest, I don’t see where there could be much conflict,” he said. “The college has always been very helpful for the city, when we’ve needed to use their facilities. But really, there’s not a lot of interaction.”
