Kenai Peninsula College celebrates 60 years of instruction

Kenai Peninsula College celebrated its 60th anniversary during its annual open house last week, on Tuesday, Aug. 20.

As the college marked its six decades of operation, it also welcomed back “more than 2,200 students to campus” for the fall 2024 semester, Director Cheryl Siemers said. Class was back in session on Monday, Aug. 26.

Over the last 60 years, she said, KPC has maintained an “outstanding educational reputation,” grown its programming and served countless students.

Students and faculty could be seen again filling KPC’s Kenai River Campus during the open house. There were tours being offered, instructors were available to talk about their programs, and staff were ready to help students or anyone else with questions about registration or financial aid.

In the campus art gallery, located in the Brockel Commons, a timeline exhibit showed off “history highlights,” from the 1964 founding of the college all the way to the most recent decade. The most recent highlights include when in 2021 Siemers was appointed KPC director; in 2023 KPC leads enrollment across all University of Alaska campuses; and in 2024 Brian Partridge is appointed director of KPC’s Kachemak Bay Campus.

During the ceremony, Rep. Justin Ruffridge presented, alongside fellow state legislators Sen. Jesse Bjorkman and Rep. Ben Carpenter, a pair of legislative citations recognizing the college for its 60-year anniversary and Lisa Parker for her role on the University of Alaska Board of Regents.

KPC, Ruffridge said, prioritizes Alaska students in workforce development — “a necessary part of this community.”

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Superintendent Clayton Holland said the partnership between KPC and KPBSD is important and strong. When students go to KPC or through the wider University of Alaska system, he said, they’re more likely to stay in Alaska and join the local workforce.

Ahead of the open house, Siemers spoke about KPC’s history and offerings to the joint Soldotna and Kenai chambers of commerce on Aug. 14.

Celebrating the milestone anniversary, she said, means celebrating 60 years of a commitment to “excellence in education, training and lifelong learning by offering accessible opportunities in a supportive environment.” It also means 60 years since Clayton Brockel became the first director of what then was called Kenai Community College and saw the first classes offered in July 1964. He was a full-time English teacher at a local high school and his office was in a closet.

Brockel saw KPC grow rapidly in its first years, Siemer told the chambers, operating out of a mobile office — his 1963 Chevy Sedan, ‘Ol Blue. In 1965, the school was renamed Kenai Peninsula Community College. In 1966, the first classes were offered in Seward and Homer, in 1971 KPC graduated its first student at its first commencement ceremony — Jack Hummel, Associate of Arts.

KPC’s diverse student population is a point of pride, Siemers said. They have learners of all ages, reached across mediums and locations around the Kenai Peninsula. The most recent spring 2024 valedictorian from Kachemak Bay Campus was a woman in her 80s. KPC, she said, is committed to reaching students around the Kenai Peninsula Borough in the form and location they need to live and work while pursuing college. Classes are offered in person, online, some mix of the two — “we’ll meet students where they’re at.”

The college is growing, she said. Attendance is up. In Homer, they purchased the former location of Young’s Downtown Inn and Restaurant for expansion of the Kachemak Bay Campus. They’re also expanding the number of degrees that can be completed at KPC and adding other opportunities for personal and professional growth like the Kenai Peninsula Middle College.

The Middle College, Siemers said, this year has 125 students, capped out for this year. Adding in students taking participating in JumpStart, there are 222 Kenai Peninsula Borough School District students taking KPC courses while also enrolled in 18 different KPBSD high schools.

The college also works with local employers through its career technical education programming. The process technology course gets direct input from the oil and gas industry on what and how they teach — that means graduating students know they are equipped to start work in the field.

Siemers pointed also to the school’s welding program. She said students are getting the training and certifications they need and entering the workforce in short order.

“I tease our welding instructor,” she said. “He can’t seem to graduate students out of the program because they get jobs.”

KPC’s pre-medicine program has its “largest pool of applicants to date,” Siemers said. Those are students who are getting the training they need to be on the ambulance providing emergency care.

There are also non-credit courses for working with motors or becoming a fishing guide.

Last year, KPC conferred its first Dena’ina Language Certificate, meaning for the first time the University of Alaska graduated a student with the training and certification to teach the Dena’ina language.

For more information about Kenai Peninsula College, visit kpc.alaska.edu.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.