T-R PHOTO BY KRISTIE FISHER IVCCD Chancellor Kristie Fisher discusses the benefits of the upcoming exterior renovation project at Marshalltown Community College.

The Iowa Valley Community College District (IVCCD) set a public hearing date for an exterior renovation project at Wednesday night’s board meeting.

“This is the project that in the Marshalltown community is most visible for the public,” Chancellor Kristie Fisher said. “One of the things we hope this will do as a visible project is to drive enrollment and to make it feel and look like a place where students want to attend.”

The project will update some of the outer structures of the buildings on Marshalltown Community College’s campus, add exterior entrances, improve safety of walkways and make roofing repairs.

Made possible through Marshalltown voters in Nov. 2019, the renovations are a part of a $32 million bond referendum.

The public hearing is set for 3 p.m. April 5 at the Iowa Valley Continuing Education Conference Center and will give the public a chance to comment on the plans, specifications, form of contract and estimated cost for the project.

The IVCCD board also approved an alternative way of putting on a graduation ceremony for this year’s graduates. Graduation ceremonies at Marshalltown Community College and Ellsworth Community College were cancelled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After determining an in-person graduation ceremony would not be safe this year, IVCCD collaborated with colleges across the district to determine an alternative way to celebrate graduation.

The district is working with Full Measure Education to provide a virtual graduation experience.

The graduation ceremony will be pre-recorded live stream with speakers and individual slides for each graduate. Students will be able to submit their own picture to use for their slide, and Full Measure provides the capability to apply custom social media filters to the picture. Students also have the opportunity to share their graduation slide across social media platforms. All content will be available to view after the live stream is over.

The district intends for the virtual graduation to only be used during the COVID-19 pandemic, with plans to return to in-person graduation ceremonies as soon as possible.

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Call Trevor Babcock at 641-753-6611 or tbabcock@timesrepublican.com.