New Northwest President Stresses Growth In Yalobusha
Northwest Mississippi Community College Board of Trustees Steve Cummings (right) and Sammy Higdon (not pictured) introduced the college’s new president, Dr. Michael J. Heindl (left), at Monday’s Board of Supervisor meeting.
By David Howell
Editor
COFFEEVILLE – The new president of Northwest Mississippi Community College provided an overview of educational services provided in the school’s 11-county district including Yalobusha County during an introductory meeting Monday with supervisors.
Dr. Michael J. Heindl, the ninth president in the 103-year history of Northwest, assumed duties on July 1 following the retirement of Dr. Gary Lee Spears. Heindl was introduced by Steve Cummings and Sammy Higdon, members of the college’s Board of Trustees at Monday’s meeting in the Coffeeville courthouse.
He reported Northwest serves the district with five locations and has 7,676 students, making it the third largest community college in the state.
The new college president provided a breakdown of the impact the college has in Yalobusha County and identified avenues for potential growth. Heindl reported 78 percent of the students from the Yalobusha County receive financial aid. Last year, $11,400 was awarded in foundation scholarships, $38,700 for other scholarships such as band or leadership and $49,980 in institutional scholarships.
“We really want to award more,” Heindl added.
Heindl added that most high school graduates at Northwest pursue a general college program of study, and the next largest groups in the county are elementary education majors, business administration majors, practical nursing students or pre-nursing students who plan to seek their bachelor’s degree.
“You are probably familiar with the great partnership that we have with Base Camp, the coding academy in Water Valley. We are very proud of that partnership,” Heindl also told supervisors. Other services in the county offered by Northwest include a mobile industrial unit at Ajinomoto Foods in Oakland and a manufacturing partnership that is funded through Three Rivers Planning and Development District.
In 2017, 275 county residents were trained in workforce training. There were also 57 adult education participants from Yalobusha last year.
“Obviously we see some opportunity for growth in the county, we see greater recruitment and more dual enrollment (classes) at the high schools in Water Valley and Coffeeville,” Heindl noted, adding that dual enrollment is currently offered at both high schools.
“We see growth at Base Camp Coding Academy in Water Valley, Heindl added in his upbeat report, noting that there are students from both Water Valley High School and Coffeeville High School attending Base Camp this year. He also said there is room for growth for adult education in the county.
“The vision of the college is to serve the residents of our 11-county district to become better educated and to become life-long learners. To help the communities in the counties grow and strive, and to help grow the economy in the district and the region. Also the college will serve the people in the 11 counties to help them graduate, to become community builders, to have changed lives as a result and to be life-changers themselves,” Heindl said.
