College in St. Ignace Is Goal of New Group
Need 10 Students To Offer NCMC Classes Here
By Karen Gould

Freshman level college classes could be offered in St. Ignace as early as January. A local committee working to establish a regional campus for higher education at all ages has an informal agreement with North Central Michigan College of Petoskey for the classes, if the committee can guarantee at least 10 students. The group also has been offered temporary use of LaSalle High School classrooms.

Meeting since June, the committee of local educators and business owners have a goal to offer enrichment classes, vocational training, and college courses. The local planners also see the school eventually becoming a four-year college that focuses on using green energy to power the facility, and they have named their school the Great Waters Center for Lifelong Learning.

"I think it's going to go," said committee member Betsy Turf, "but we want it to go in a way that it is sustainable and it survives, so we're trying to do our homework. It has to have a solid foundation."

Ms. Turf, who spoke to the St. Ignace Area Schools Board of Education Monday, August 11, is a professor of epidemiology at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond and a summer resident here.

Group representatives seek public support and backing from area school districts, service organizations, county leaders, local churches, and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.

"We're talking with them about a dream we have," said committee member George Ford, who has been making presentations to area organizations.

The committee has begun talks with the tribe, he said, in hopes of establishing a partnership similar to that of the new hospital, Mackinac Straits Health Systems. Such a partnership would offer more options for grant funding.

"This would open a lot of doors to us for possible financial aid," he said.

The committee also has talked with county commissioners and will be presenting more solid plans in hopes of getting seed money to cover organizational costs, printing, postage, and surveys, and to hire an administrator.

"Every place we go," said Mr. Ford, "it's rah, rah, go go. This is the most excited bunch of people. The enthusiasm is unbelievable."

County commissioners also encouraged the committee to consider using the hospital facility on Burdette Street, said Mr. Ford, once the new hospital is built near the airport in 2010.

The group plans to distribute surveys to area high school freshman and seniors, recent graduates, and residents to compile statistics on educational needs. Planners are hoping to find out how many students would be interested in college level classes, earning a builders' license, or getting instruction in culinary arts, computers, and other subjects.

The educational opportunities and ideas need to be prioritized and the committee is hoping the surveys will assist them, said Ms. Turf.

Local pastors who oversee operations at Area Hope have said they see the school as an opportunity to assist families in need with skills training, Mr. Ford reported.

Other potential users, said Ms. Turf, are students at the Great Lakes Boat Building School in Cedarville, which offers an associate's degree in boat building. Students there need core classes, which they now receive in Petoskey.

The committee is targeting high school students and graduates who want to stay in the area and adults who are looking for new employment opportunities or enrichment classes, said Ms. Turf. Education could include vocational training in alternative energy careers such as operating and maintaining wind power equipment, she said.

In addition to Mr. Ford and his wife, Jo, who are St. Ignace chamber of Commerce ambassadors, and Ms. Turf, committee members are summer and year-around residents including Sue Steffel, a professor of English at Central Michigan University; Cheryl Schlehuber, president of the St. Ignace Chamber of Commerce and real estate broker; Jim Haring, a retired psychologist; Reinette Murray, a professor of nursing at Lake Superior State University; Mary Sue Kunze, a retired home economics and health teacher at St. Ignace Area Schools; Dick Williams, a retired professor of architecture; Bill Peek and his wife, Patty, who is a professor of nursing at Michigan State University; Irene Heywood and her husband, Bob, who is a retired professor of history at the University of Michigan; Michelle Walk, director of the Mackinac County Michigan State University Extension office; Dawn Nelson, county commission chair, and Shirley Sorrels, director of the Museum of Ojibwa Culture and a Chamber of Commerce board member.