March 28, 2024

DMACC celebrates 25 years in Newton

This week, a well-known educational institution in Newton is celebrating its existence in the area for two-and-half decades.

Des Moines Area Community College Newton Campus is celebrating its 25-year anniversary with a special ribbon cutting and re-dedication ceremony Thursday. The event will feature food and hors d’oeuvres provided by the school’s culinary students.

The event is put on in association with the Newton Chamber of Commerce. Joe DeHart, DMACC provost, said the celebration is mainly for DMACC officials and chamber members, but really anybody can join.

“It will be an after-hours thing. People can come after work and have an hors d’oeuvre and see the campus again,” DeHart said. “We might be giving tours if people want them.

“It’s actually a chamber event, and those we’ve invited,” DeHart added. “All chamber members are invited because it’s really their event that we just took on as part of the anniversary. But anyone is really welcome.”

The event will take place upstairs in the landing area at 5 p.m. Thursday.

The event celebrates 25 years of DMACC Newton Campus history. The building was built within 11 months. DeHart said the story was Lann Hadley called the DMACC board president at the time and said, “Hey I got some money, I got a building, I’ve got some land.”

Eleven months later, it was built and open for students. It housed a high school, the college and the Maytag Training Center.

“Everybody wanted it and everybody needed it,” DeHart said. “So everybody just came on board, and it was a great thing for the community.”

Once the Maytag company left Newton, that gave DMACC campus an opportunity to expand some of their programs, especially their culinary program. The space allowed for the campus to, at the time, take in entities such as the Newton Development Corporation and the Goodwill Career Center.

“It probably has a bigger outreach into the community 25 years later,” DeHart said.

Contact Orrin Shawl at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or oshawl@newtondailynews.com