Barton Community College

Damon Ward remembers his grandfather telling him stories about hopping in his car as a young man and chasing storms and tornados, and that’s all it took for Ward to realize he wanted to be a storm chaser. Well, that and the movie Twister.

“Ever since I was a little kid, I enjoyed the weather … anytime it’s bad weather or raining I’m outside,” he said. “I prefer to be out in that weather. I’ll either sit and watch it rain or watch the lightning, and then as a kid, once I saw the movie ‘Twister’ I fell in love with it. I still watch it. I watched it last night, actually.”

July 11, 2019
Story by Joe Vinduska

July 1, 2019
Story by Joe Vinduska
Courtesy photos submitted

The Shafer Gallery at Barton Community College will host a reception and free concert of electro-acoustic improvisational music by award-winning composer and musician Dr. Paul Rudy at 6:30 p.m. on July 19. He will perform with longtime collaborator Jim Pisano.

July 3, 2019
Story and photos by Joe Vinduska

The Barton Community College Theatre Department will present “The Flowering of Chastity or Chaste across the Stage (An Old-Fashioned Melodrama)” by Dutton Foster in Great Bend, Larned and St. John at 7:30 p.m. on July 23, 24 and 25 respectively. The Larned performance will be west of the Haas Building at Jordan Park, the St. John performance will be in the city square, and the Great Bend performance will be in the band shell.

July 1, 2019
Story by Joe Vinduska

The Great Bend City Band will be playing in honor of Barton Community College at their concert at 8:15 p.m. on July 16 at the band shell in Jack Kilby Square to commemorate Barton’s 50-year anniversary. Barton administrators will be handing out free hot dogs, chips and water from 7:30-8:30 p.m. 

Barton’s 50-year anniversary celebration will span the 2019-2020 school year and will feature multiple events, which will kick off with a campus-wide celebration on September 28.

June 27, 2019

When Andrea Aguilera was a student at Chase High School, she knew she wanted a career in the medical field. Then, she learned about the Emergency Medical Technician course at Barton Community College.

“I completed the class and then Hoisington EMS hired me,” Aguilera recalled. “I was hooked. They roped me in from the beginning.”

That experience encouraged Aguilera to take the next step and today she is a paramedic at Hoisington and in Rice County at only 20 years old.

June 24, 2019
Story by Joe Vinduska

Barton Community College will be closed Thursday, July 4 for Independence Day. Classes will resume and offices will reopen Monday, July 8.

Great Bend Tribune
Published June 23, 2019

The current “active” weather pattern doesn’t appear to be in the mood to go anywhere.  On the plus side, for those with corn, beans, and grain sorghum in the ground, we are starting to see some heat.  You may have heard producers and analysts saying we need heat, lots of it for corn and grain sorghum, and a late frost.  Today let’s explore that statement and the importance of planting date for these three crops.  We are leaving aside insurance considerations and any FSA programs here.

June 19, 2019

After leaving his hometown and studying for a couple of years at a four-year university, Mitch Johnson decided he needed a fresh start. He found it at Barton Community College.

The results are an associate’s in applied science degree in computer networking, and a solid job at a Kansas City, Mo., engineering firm.

The Great Bend native had studied computer engineering at Kansas State University for five semesters before deciding to transfer to Barton.

June 17, 2019
Story by Joe Vinduska
Courtesy photo submitted

The Shafer Art Gallery’s new exhibit, Anomalous Sites: The Photography of Dr. Paul Rudy, will open June 24. However, the official reception will be held at 6:30 p.m. on July 19, which will include a music concert and artist talk by Rudy.