PROGRESS: Hands-on experience the focus at transformed Ivy Tech Kokomo

Sep. 26—For years, Ivy Tech Community College made due on its campus.

As a student, you might have class in one building but your professor's office might be in another. Some classes were even off campus.

Classrooms, offices, the library, they were all put wherever the college could fit them.

Those days are long gone.

A $43 million renovation project has turned the Kokomo branch of Ivy Tech into a state-of-the-art campus specializing in hands-on experience and preparing students to enter the workforce.

After a $40 million appropriation from the Indiana General Assembly, Ivy Tech successfully raised another $3 million. More than 250 donors contributed to the cause. The names of those who helped make the project possible can be found across campus with classrooms and labs named in their honor.

With an influx of capital, Ivy Tech was able to redesign its campus with student needs at the forefront.

"There's so many opportunities that come from that," Chancellor Dean McCurdy said. "It really changes the game when working with students."

That focus is evident from the moment one steps foot on campus. The entire college is walkable with new sidewalks and greenspaces. Each academic building is accessible by foot. This may seem obvious, but there was a time students had to walk down an actual road, depending on where there classes were.

Each academic facility has a lounge and eating area, along with spaces to study. Faculty offices are in the same building as the classes they teach, making them more accessible to students.

Again, all common college features, but ones Ivy Tech is happy to finally offer in Kokomo.

"It very much feels like a college campus with the amenities you expect with a college campus," McCurdy said. "To say it's night and day (different) is an understatement."

Student numbers are up in every category, especially first-time students, McCurdy said. Enrollment was up for summer classes and interest remains strong with the first round of courses this fall.

"We're seeing a really strong response," he said.

Health professions

Nursing is a prime example of how Ivy Tech's hands-on centered approach prepares students for the workforce.

The nursing program is equipped with a 10-bed lab where students can practice skills such as changing bed linens and checking vitals. Students also master more complicated tasks as they progress through the program.

There is also a three-bed lab where professors can simulate a number of different scenarios nursing students will encounter on the job with the use of interactive dummies.

During a recent class, students practiced helping a mother give birth. With the use of a laptop, a professor controlled contractions and tested students on what they covered in class.

After the dummy gave birth, nursing students made sure the baby, also a dummy, received enough air. The simulation is hyper realistic. The baby has a heartbeat, cries and can turn blue if it does not receive enough air.

"We try to simulate what it will look like at doctor offices and hospitals," Kelly Williams, dean of nursing, said. "We want students to be prepared and feel prepared."

Employers certainly think so, as the nursing program has 100% job placement rate.

Next door to the simulation lab is a classroom equipped with TVs. On the screen, students can watch as a classmate is put through a simulation in another room.

Labs next to classrooms is a near-universal design at the transformed campus. This design allows classes to cover a lesson in the classroom then immediately put it into practice.

Ivy Tech's ambulance simulator prepares the next wave of EMTs.

Positioned inside a classroom, the ambulance simulator looks like the back half of an actual ambulance. Inside, students can practice a number of different medical emergencies. The simulator rocks and shakes, replicating driving down the road, which adds to another realistic layer for students.

It's one thing to administer an IV in an ambulance. At Ivy Tech, students learn to do it while also experiencing going down a bumpy road.

The classroom even has a bathroom in it, because plenty of medical complications happen in a bathroom.

Surgical technology students have class in a room adjacent to a replica operating room. Just like with nursing, students can watch as others practice the correct procedures during an operation.

Surgical technicians prepare an operating room for procedure and are the ones who hand equipment to the surgeon.

For dental assistant students, going to class is like going to work. There are lectures and lessons but there is also plenty of lab work, which looks exactly like a dentist's office.

The lab has six operating chairs plus the ability to take full X-rays. Students have their own locker space.

Nearly every program at Ivy Tech has locker spaces. It's another small feature meant to replicate the "going to work" feeling.

"It's very easy to forget you're in an academic facility and not a hospital or dentist's office," McCurdy said.

After they log enough practice, dental assistant students work on real people, adults and children alike.

"Anything they would do in a normal day-to-day office, they do here," Bernie Higgins, chair of the dental assisting program, said.

This includes everything from a teeth cleaning and administering fluoride to handling insurance.

Students complete an externship at dentist offices in the community. They usually get hired on afterward.

The last dental assistant group had 17 students and each found work upon graduating, Higgins said.

The Health Professions Center also houses Hingst Hall, Ivy Tech's new community room. Hingst Hall is named after the late John and Hilda Hingst, made possible via a donation from their sons, Bill and Bob.

Ivy Tech has offered up the 300-person space for a number of community events and interest only continues to grow.

"I think this will make us more noticeable in the community," Kelly Karickhoff, executive director of resource development, said.

Industrial technology

Over in the industrial technology building, the full scope of Ivy Tech's relationship with employers is on display.

Usually quiet during the afternoon, there is plenty of activity in the evenings as students who work full time further their education, usually with the financial support of their employer.

Like with the health professions building, industrial technology classrooms are connected to labs. Large overhead doors allow for piece of equipment students would work on at a factory to be wheeled into a classroom for a lesson.

Ivy Tech's advanced manufacturing program has double the space compared to other Ivy Tech campuses, a result of local demand.

"We produce a different type of student than what the other Ivy Tech's do," Josh Speer, dean of advanced manufacturing, engineering and applied science, said.

More space means more classes can happen at one time. This offers possibilities for collaboration across industries. For example, tool and die students and manufacturing students might have class at the same time.

"It gives us a lot more flexibility," Speer said.

The dean said advanced manufacturer employers will have to replace between 4,000 and 5,000 baby boomers who will retire in the coming years.

"That's a lot of people replace out," Speer said.

Speer said expansions in certain industrial technology programs are already in the works.

"This project has allowed us to scale up to accommodate our community needs," he said.

Ivy Tech also offers apprenticeships through partnerships with employers.

Industrial electrician apprenticeships have doubled in the last year.

Certifications are popular too. Ivy Tech is averaging upward of 90 American Welding Society certifications a year.

The community college is partnering with area schools to offer technical certifications where students in high school can complete half of their requirements prior to graduating, cutting the cost of college.

After one year of college at Ivy Tech, students can obtain their associate degree and enter the workforce.

Automotive, agriculture and IT

Like with other labs on campus, the automotive lab is meant to replicate a real-world setting students will work in.

For automotive students, their lab resembles a dealership. Straight and angled lifts prepare students for what they will encounter on the job.

"Now when students come here, they get a feeling for what it's going to look like (on the job)," Speer said.

The building, with an entrance off of Touby Pike, also houses Ivy Tech's agriculture program.

McCurdy knows first-hand work assignments reflect what students are learning in the classroom. Dedicated to lifelong learning, McCurdy has taken a number of courses while at Ivy Tech, including three automotive classes. His fourth will be a class on brakes.

Coursework is aligned with employer requirements, such as learning how to work on specific vehicle brands.

Area employers not only helped make the project possible through donations but also worked with Ivy Tech on design.

McCurdy said employers can be considered investors. They're included on an advisory board for curriculum and programs.

"They want to do the right thing while also investing in the community," the chancellor said.

Information technology is back on campus thanks to the transformation project. Previously downtown, department chair Robyn Schmidt and her students have a brand new data center inside the main building at the college.

"It's good to be back here so they feel like they're part of the rest of the campus," she said.

The data center — with new computers and routers — is on its own network, meaning nothing students do impacts the campus' internet.

This is perfect, Schmidt said, as a major part of IT is learning how to confidently troubleshoot. With low stakes, Schmidt hopes it makes students more comfortable as they get their own hands-on experience.

"It really gives them a place they can play and not worry about breaking anything," she said. "This is the time to be comfortable with being okay not knowing."

The program offers third party certifications, such as Cisco, which is the most popular IT system used by employers. Students can also earn a two-year degree, then go to a four-year school for a bachelor's degree.

Students often get hired by banks and hospitals, as well as by the military for civilian jobs.

The IT program partners with Maconaquah and Peru schools to offer dual credits.

Spencer Durham can be reached at 765-454-8598, by email at spencer.durham@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @Durham_KT.