By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
GREAT BEND — Elaine Simmons was a student at Barton Community College in the early 1980s and was a student worker for the vocational department. She remembers Bob Wagner was in charge of the automotive program at that time.
Simmons, now
Barton’s Vice President of Instruction, has been around the program a long time
and noted it was difficult to recommend eliminating the automotive department
at the college.
"It's a bittersweet thing to bring these types of recommendations
forward for any program," said Simmons. "There is also a flow to
programming. There are moments where you have to accept the reoccurring
declining enrollment and high-program cost. Some programs are not as
expensive as others."
The Barton Board of Trustees voted to close the automotive program because of
declining enrollment, high program costs and consistent financial loss to the
college.
The auto program taught certified courses covering brakes, steering and suspension, electrical, engines, air conditioning, manual drivetrains and automatic transmissions.
Simmons said the program has seen very few students
completing the program recently.
"Completing courses is always difficult for me to talk about because
sometimes when students come for education and training and don't
complete, they are still quite successful in the industry," said
Simmons. "We also know we're graded in different ways in terms of
completers."
The college is looking at new programming opportunities for the space the
automotive department occupied.