BY BEN KARKELA HERALD-REVIEW | August 15, 2021
Itasca Community College (ICC) celebrated the grand opening of its new McMahon Student Center with a social hour and ribbon cutting on Thursday.
The $5 million facility was privately-funded and gives students a new, modern space to connect in meaningful ways – with each other, their community, and their future.The student center is named after Dr. Jack and Mary Margaret McMahon, who donated $500,000 to jump-start the endeavor.
The McMahon family has deep ties to Grand Rapids and the surrounding communities. Jack grew up in Grand Rapids while Mary Margaret is from Nashwauk.
Jack attended Itasca Community College in 1953 when it was known as Itasca Junior College and located on the third floor of Greenway High School. He said it was a transformative year and helped set him on the right track for medical school. About five years ago, he was eating lunch with ICC Provost Dr. Bart Johnson and then-ICC Foundatio
n Executive Director Susan Lynch. He was discussing ways to give back to ICC when they mentioned the need for a student center. After some discussion, Jack and Mary Margaret agreed to help make the student center possible.
“We have been very blessed in our lives with family and career, and when we decided it was time to try and ‘give back,’ we chose ICC because of the great impact it has had on our lives and the lives of people in the community as a whole,” McMahon said in a statement to the ICC Foundation.
Lynch spearheaded the project and the student center went through several different designs and planned locations from its inception. The completed facility is the result of more than five years of work and collaboration between students, the college, and community donors and volunteers.
“This is something both the community and our students made happen,” Johnson said. “The students had the vision and idea and the McMahon family came along at just the right time to add the opportunity for us to start the project.”
During the grand opening, Minnesota State Chancellor Devinder Malhotra, Northeast Higher Education District President Dr. Michael Raich, Johnson, and Lynch addressed attendees and thanked everyone who worked on the project for their vision and hard work. Current student Marie Ngo-Poua and ICC alumni Brianna Sutherlund spoke about the impact the student center will have on students.
Ngo-Poua is an international student and current resident assistant on campus. Sutherland is a native of Grand Rapids and was named ICC’s 2020 Outstanding Student of the Year. She is currently studying business administration at North Dakota State University. Before the facility was completed, students did not have a central space to congregate, socialize, and connect. Students typically congregated at the school’s library, but thanks to the McMahon family and many other donors, they now have a dedicated space to connect.
“There’s a lot of great projects that happen in our community, but this one feels special,” Johnson said. “This didn’t happen without hundreds of people taking a role in it.”
Brooke Ostendorf, Rhonda Cash and Jackie Gallop
Scholarship Recipient
Tom McBride, ICC Alumn, ICC Foundation Board Member and Guest Speaker
On April 17, more than 100 students were awarded 159 scholarships representing over $130,000 for the 2018-19 school year at Itasca Community College. The Scholarship Awards Reception was attended by over 200 students, donors, parents, faculty, staff, friends, and ICC Foundation Board members. Ron Oleheiser, ICC Foundation board chair, and Dr. Bart Johnson, ICC Provost, presided as Masters of Ceremonies. Alumnus, current board member, and donor Tom McBride served as an enlightening and entertaining guest speaker. Many thanks to the donors and volunteers who make this night a success!
“I am honored to have been the recipient of this scholarship! It will help me with my financial struggles and relieve stress for me and my parents as we pay my way through college. One of the reasons I came to Itasca Community College is because I knew how great the Scholarship program is here. I can confidently say now that it is true!” ~scholarship recipient
Bart Johnson, ICC Provost and Ron Ulseth, Engineering Faculty
Susan Lynch ICC Foundation/Alumni Director, Cindy Feyder,ICC Foundation Board Member and guest, Norma Eppinga
ICC Foundation Scholarship applications are available online February 1 through March 1. More than $125,000 is available to both full- and part-time students who will attend Itasca Community College for the 2021–22 academic year. Some scholarships have specific criteria or are for students in certain program areas, but many are designated for students in any program.
The online application requires basic information about the applicant, and includes sections regarding financial need, activities, future goals, and an essay question. To keep it simple for applicants, a single application is directed by staff to all eligible scholarships. That way students can submit an application once and get maximum consideration. The application and all supporting documents are due on March 1, 2021.
We are very excited about being able to offer more than 175 scholarships to ICC students This is the result of our many generous donors who give outright gifts or support our Annual Fund and Best Start Scholarship fund raisers, ICC staff and faculty who donate through payroll deduction, and donors who have funded endowments.
Anyone with questions about ICC Foundation scholarships can 218-322-2451 or email foundation@itascacc.edu. The online application and further information can be found at iccfoundation.awardspring.com and www.itascacc.edu.