Student Journalism @ Barton Community College

The year was 1984. Apple’s first Graphic User Interface computer the Macintosh came out, the summer Olympic Games were held in Los Angles, and Ronald Regan was elected for a second term.

 

Nineteen eighty-four was historic for Barton Community College as well. Barton had started offering courses at Fort Riley east of Junction City, Kan.

 

“Fort Riley Education Services went to community colleges in the state of Kansas asking them if they can offer a program for their military soldiers,” said Dr. Carl Heilman, President of Barton Community College, at his office on the Great Bend Campus.

 

“In 1984, Barton offered math and English courses to Fort Riley personnel for the first time. In 1985, we expanded our program to about 86 courses in an agreement that we reached with Fort Riley. The program was started under Dr. Jim Downing, the third president of the college. The program continued to grow into the Fort Riley Campus under the forth president of the college, Dr. Veldom Law. In September 2014, we reached an agreement with the Department of Defense to continue the program for another five years.”

 

“Our classes are running similar to before, steady if not growing enrollments in all facets of the college here in Fort Riley,” said Ashley M. Arnold, Dean of Military Academic Services, at the Fort Riley Campus.

Fort Riley offers the same general education courses that the main campus in Great Bend offers.

 

There are other programs that Fort Riley and Great Bend campuses offer at their distinct locations only.  “Fort Riley offers programs like Emergency Management, Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), and is one of the Midwest OSHA Education Centers,” Heilman said. “Great Bend Campus offers an automotive program, nursing program, and a networking program. There are some courses that are offered at the other location, but there is not a major frameset program in place.”

 

“We offer daytime courses at no cost to the soldier or family members of soldiers,” said Arnold. “Our night programs accept Tuition Assistance (TA) so soldiers can pay for their class at no or little cost. Their family members pay a fraction of what a regular college would charge for tuition.”

 

Both Great Bend and Fort Riley contain different campus schedule formats.  “We operate in the daytime 1.5 hours of classes every day for about six to seven weeks,” said Arnold. “These daytime classes are offered seven cycles per year. Our night and weekend programs contain one three-hour class a week for eight to nine weeks along with hybrid work online. This program has five cycles per year.”

 

Arnold stated that a cycle has no spring break, no summer break, and other regular college campus atmosphere that the Great Bend campus offers. Arnold also stated that the only break that Fort Riley has a small break for the winter holidays.  Arnold commented that Fort Riley has different hours because of the military post operations at Fort Riley.

 

Regarding the Fort Riley Campus funding, Heilman explained that no Barton taxpayer dollars goes to the funding of Fort Riley; however, the funds that the Fort Riley Campus brings to the college helps in not only bringing in programs to both campuses but also making the experience at Barton more affordable for students.

 

Website of Fort Riley campus including info about programs and services that Fort Riley offers: http://frmilitary.bartonccc.edu/