Velocity - Magazine - Page 2
At Southeast Community College, we’ve never believed that opportunity
should depend on a zip code, a paycheck, or a past. Education is for
everyone no matter what chapter of life you are currently writing. That
conviction is exactly why SCC partnered with the Nebraska Department
of Correctional Services in July 2023 to offer college classes in five
southeast Nebraska facilities.
Along the way, SCC became the first institution in Nebraska, and one
of the first in the nation, to earn federal approval and accreditation for
a Pell-eligible Prison Education Program. Hence, UPWARD was born.
UPWARD stands for Unlocking Potential With Academic Resources and
Development. The name is the whole idea. The potential was always
there. We were allowed to open the door.
CONTENTS
The Program
More than a Classroom ....... 1
The People Who Lead It
From the Inside Out.............. 3
Against the Odds .................. 4
By the Numbers..................... 6
This is one way SCC is a community college done different. While
others debated whether incarcerated Nebraskans deserved a college
classroom, we brought college courses which lead to degrees to
five facilities. Our faculty came back saying these were among the most
motivated students they’d ever taught. More than 900 students have
been served so far. Last fall, 92 of them earned a place on the Dean’s
List. Read that number again - 92.
The Students Served
We’re proud of those milestones, but we’re prouder of what they
point toward. Research shows students who pursue education while
incarcerated are far less likely to return to prison. That isn’t just a
second chance for one person. It’s a stronger community, a reunited
family, a returning neighbor with a credential, and a plan instead of
a record and a dead end. When a graduate comes home to Beatrice
or Falls City or Lincoln ready to work, all of southeast Nebraska is
stronger for it.
Sanders Turns Prison
Sentence Into
Life Lessons ....................... 12
That’s the through-line of everything in these pages: education that
reaches further, lifts higher, and leaves no one out of the story. In the
pages ahead, you’ll learn about the program by meeting the people
and instructors who lead it, the students it serves, and the community
partners who extend its reach, because we believe access to education
should have no exceptions.
Around here, there are no strangers — only neighbors we haven’t
reached yet.
Welcome to this issue of Velocity.
THIS IS
COMMUNITY COLLEGE,
Finch Finds Future
in Fabrication ..................... 8
Showalter Gives Back .......... 9
Whittaker Drives
New Opportunities .......... 10
The Instructors
Jurgens Learns and
Teaches Trust .................... 13
Moore Opportunities ............ 14
The Community Partners
From Felon to Chef ............... 16
Opportunity Meets
Purpose ............................... 18
Believing in the System ....... 19
SCC Builds
Nebraska’s Workforce .... 20
Bobcats Stalked Greatness
in 2025-2026 .................... 22
In Memoriam .......................... 24
DONE DIFFERENT.
LET’S DO MORE.
