Northwest Arkansas Community College making strides toward cross country team

NWA Democrat-Gazette/BEN GOFF @NWABENGOFF A view of Burns Hall Friday, April 7, 2017, from the Becky Paneitz Student Center at Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/BEN GOFF @NWABENGOFF A view of Burns Hall Friday, April 7, 2017, from the Becky Paneitz Student Center at Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville.

BENTONVILLE -- Northwest Arkansas Community College is on its way to establishing a cross country team, which likely will begin competing by spring of next year, President Evelyn Jorgenson said.

Jorgenson gave the Board of Trustees an update Friday on the college's first attempt at a sanctioned sports program, which the board approved in November.

Spring enrollment

Northwest Arkansas Community College announced an unofficial preliminary count of 7,604 students enrolled as of Tuesday, the 11th day of classes for the spring semester. That represents a 0.4% increase compared to the 2019 spring semester, when 7,570 were enrolled.

There were 849 students attending the college’s new Washington County Center in Springdale, which opened last month — a 347-student increase (69%) from 2019 spring enrollment at the college’s previously rented facilities in Washington County.

Source: Staff report

The college is seeking acceptance into the National Junior College Athletic Association. Bryson Collins, membership coordinator for the association, toured the college Jan. 14 in what Jorgenson called a "very positive" visit.

"They wanted to make sure we can deal with student-athletes through the whole process of enrollment and educational support," she said.

The association has three divisions. Division I colleges may grant full athletic scholarships. Division II colleges may grant athletic scholarships, but they are limited to tuition, books, fees and up to $250 in course-required supplies. Division III colleges aren't permitted to offer athletic scholarships.

Northwest Arkansas Community College is developing a budget for the cross country team as part of the school's overall budget planning process. The college also will have to hire a coach, someone who probably will have other duties such as advising or tutoring, Jorgenson said. Meanwhile, the college's marketing department is working on a logo for the team.

"Most of what's going to happen this year is just getting all the T's crossed, the I's dotted," Jorgenson said. "I personally have serious doubt that anything will start this fall. I think we'll still be building, and probably be competitive by spring of 2021."

Jorgenson said she believes there are cross country competitions in both the spring and fall.

The application fee to join the association was $2,500, which came from the college's foundation, Jorgenson said. The college will lean on the foundation to provide additional money for team expenses, such as uniforms and travel, she said.

"We're going to use as little college operating dollars as possible on this," she said.

Friday's meeting was the board's annual winter retreat meeting, during which administrators present various topics of interest to trustees.

Jim Hall, executive director of community and government relations, discussed the 2020 Census and how it will impact the board.

The board's nine members are elected. Each member represents part of the college's taxing district, which consists of the Bentonville and Rogers school districts. Each zone had about 17,000 residents as of the 2010 Census.

The zones will be redrawn based on results of this year's census. All nine seats then will go up for election in November 2022. Winners of each seat then will draw for length of term, with three trustees getting two-year terms, three getting four-year terms and three getting six-year terms, Hall said.

Five seats are up for election this November, including those representing zones 1, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Anyone interested in running may begin circulating petitions May 5. Petitions require 25 signatures of registered voters from the zone for which a person is running. The filing period is July 27 to Aug. 3.

Northwest Arkansas Community College's board chose in 1995 to be an elected board as opposed to one that's appointed by the governor. It's one of the few college boards in the state that's elected, Hall said.

NW News on 02/01/2020

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