HOT SPRINGS -- Just over a month after unveiling its 25-year master plan proposal, the National Park College Board of Trustees approved the final plan as presented by architect John McMorran of Lewis Architects Engineers on Wednesday.
The approval comes after six public forums held over the past month, in which more than 100 students, along with employees and community members, gave their input. Input was also received through several online responses.
Kelli Embry, the college's vice president for administration, said the feedback was almost all positive.
"Most respondents and attendees liked to see that we were taking a long-term view of what was needed in our community, what our students needed," she said. "And one thing that resonated, that everyone thought was a good thing, was that the plan allows for a lot of flexibility."
The feedback received, Embry said, is helping identify what some of the first projects will likely be, though a timeline has yet to be determined. These include additional housing, along with athletic and trade facilities.
"Many attendees confirmed the need to expand housing, for example, and we had a significant number of athletes that came to the forum and they expressed their desire for extended athletic facilities, updated athletic facilities," she said.
"But there were also others who really wanted us to focus on our trades and upgrading those buildings such as a new welding facility, new automotive facilities, and others like that. The need for more residential facilities was definitely the common theme among students. An emerging sentiment that was expressed among many was that [National Park College] should continue to grow and approve facilities to attract students in the future -- both during high school through our National Park Technical Center, and also after high school," she said.
College President John Hogan said there has been much discussion around housing on campus in the last two years, but there was more during the recent forums than ever before. He said this not only involves housing at National Park College, but at community colleges everywhere.
"There is a lot of communication and conversation around student housing -- for this college, for the community colleges in the state, and it's also a national conversation about what responsibilities can community colleges have for housing," he said. "So, this seems aggressive for housing, but it also seems that we're aspiring to be able to meet that demand. And this board has had so much to do with that in leading the way in Arkansas, frankly, on this issue."
Embry added that in the plan's final form, while the entire campus would accommodate about 5,000 students, it's preparing for 1,000 students to actually be living there.
When presenting the master plan to the board Wednesday, McMorran said a good master plan has room for growth and to be able to morph and change.
"To be able to expand in some areas, shrink in some areas, as the needs grow because you're trying to look 20, 25 years down the road," he said. "And so, listening to some of the comments that came through and some of the responses in the last few meetings, it's really been a positive and encouraging thing for us, just kind of thinking through all the conversations we had with the leadership team to be able to come to this plan. And that's really confirmed. ... There's just a lot of different parts and pieces of it that really resonated with a lot of people."
Another aspect that came out of the forums revolved around outdoor activities. The new plan includes the revitalization of the hummingbird trail, which is a walking path on campus. McMorran noted they were able to keep some of the original trail, but some of it will be rerouted.
"While we won't be able to do all the things and implement all the great ideas that we gathered, I think John McMorran and his team have used the feedback to come up with a magnificent master plan," Embry said.
"But keep in mind, this is just the plan. We understand that things may evolve over the years. We don't even know what the careers of the future are going to be in a day. In 25 years, we could need something completely different. But I think that this plan gives us an inspiration point, something that we can all dream about that we want [National Park College] to look like for our students and for our community in the future," she said.