November 2025 Central Connection
November 3, 2025
 |
| Left photo: The five-member 2025 Berlin Leadership group and their tour guides at the Brandenburg Gate. Right photo: Valerie Bren (right) with Jessica Hendrick, Grand Island resident and executive director of Leadership Unlimited, at the Reichstag. |
Trip challenges, enhances Bren’s thinking
Berlin didn’t feel like a big city to Valerie Bren but rather a succession of communities. Walkable, safe and airy is how she described them.
Bren, a leadership development trainer at Central Community College, was one of five Americans who made the trip as part of Leadership Unlimited, an international version of the local Leadership Tomorrow programs.
Leadership Berlin was held Sept. 14-21, with each day devoted to a different topic. These topics were leadership and society in Berlin, insights on minorities and diversity, leadership into social areas of responsibility, energy transformation and the rise of right-wing movements, and Lutherstadt Wittenberg and East Germany political polarization.
“We went from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. most days,” Bren said. “It was go, go, go.”
The American group met with politicians, religious leaders, community activists, business people, a newspaper editor, a former double agent and regular Germans. They learned about how schools fill gaps in learning with a teacher resource that provides volunteers to work with students; saw Castle Church in Wittenberg where Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses; and toured African Courier Media, which helps immigrants with the process of settling in Germany.
They indulged in African food, too. “We had fried plantain and black-eyed peas in what I would describe as a red bean sauce,” Bren said. “Delicious.”
Of course they had German food. One dish was the döner kebab, a German specialty consisting of meat, cabbage and vegetables served in a flatbread. Bren noted the abundance of vegan and meatless options available on the country’s menus.
Also abundant in Germany are references to World War II. For example, parts of the Berlin Wall still stand, and where it doesn’t, two lines of brick show where it once stood. Medallions embedded in the city sidewalks list the names of people and how they died.
“Germany is very open about World War II,” Bren said. “There’s no shying away from it.”
But one of the most impactful activities was a visit to an orthodox Jewish synagogue and a mosque, something Bren had never done before. She said it struck her “how similar they (the synagogue and mosque) are. They serve their whole community.”
She also was struck by the prison the group visited. “I had to keep reminding myself that I was in a prison,” she said. “Their aim is to rehabilitate the prisoners so when they leave, they don’t come back.”
The prisoners have their own rooms. Although there are bars on the windows, the windows can be opened, and there are curtains they can close. The doors are locked at night, but when the prisoners go to their jobs, they are responsible for locking their own doors.
“Everyone has a job,” Bren said. “Some learn woodworking by making cabinets for employers. It seemed more like a shop class than a prison.”
Green energy and recycling are both very big in Germany. Bren said that in her hotel room, she had to use her key to turn on the light. “That way, when you leave, you don’t leave the lights on,” she said.
The group ended their trip by attending the huge Oktoberfest celebration in Munich.
The trip “challenged my thinking but also enhanced it,” Bren said. “Travel gives us the chance to see our similarities with other countries but also to see the different ways they address their challenges. Open and honest communication is the key to understanding where other people are coming from.”
Bren’s trip was funded by the CCC/CCC Foundation Individual Development Program.
 |
|
These are the first Central Community College inductees into the Adult Education Honor Society. Back row: Kristian Martinez, Fielle Mbenga, Hayden Steele, Kevin Diaz Santana and John Duncan. Middle row: Maria Ortiz, Laura Huerta, Idalmis Rodriguez Cantun, Hussein Ibrahim, Liudmyla Aksonenko, Miss-Ery Haruo and Guadalupe Castorena Rosas. Front row: Samantha Kehm, Ibrahim Anglow Kuku, Heather Johnson, Kimberly Mercado and Karina Andazola. Not pictured: Sabah Farah. |
Honor society gains its first CCC members
Central Community College had its first students inducted into the Adult Education Honor Society in an Oct. 5 ceremony at College Park.
“2025 is our first year as a chapter (in the honor society) and the first time we’re inducting students,” said Becky Fausett, CCC adult education director.
Each inductee was nominated by an adult education instructor. The students were selected for their dependable attendance, cooperative attitude and work ethic.
Fausett said the inductees were very honored to be a part of this process. She added that this is a credential they’ll be able to use when applying for a position, whether in the workplace or at a college.
The 19 inductees were GED or English as a second language students at one of CCC’s campuses or centers.
The inductees were Samantha Kehm of Central City; Karina Andazola and Heather Johnson of Chapman; Maria Ortiz and Idalmis Rodriguez Cantun of Columbus; Ibrahim Anglow Kuku, Guadalupe Castorena Rosas, Kevin Diaz Santana, Nawal El Nimer De Nasr, Kristian Martinez, Fielle Mbenga, Kimberly Mercado and Sabah Farah of Grand Island; Liudmyla Aksonenko and Laura Huerta of Hastings; Miss-Ery Haruo and Hussein Ibrahim of Lexington; Hayden Steele of Minden; and John Duncan of Wood River.
 |
|
Harvest of Harmony Central Community College was represented at the annual Harvest of Harmony parade on Oct. 4 in Grand Island by a service truck from the diesel technology program at the Hastings Campus. Diesel technology instructor Raece Paulsen said that these types of trucks include tools and air compressors that technicians can use to repair vehicles in fields and other areas of operation. A crane allows technicians to tow vehicles that can’t be repaired onsite to where they can be. |
CCC to vie for Aspen Prize
The Aspen Institute has named Central Community College one of the 200 institutions eligible to compete for the $1 million Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence.
These colleges have been invited to participate in a rigorous review process that will culminate in the naming of the Aspen Prize winner in spring 2027. The colleges that apply for the prize will be assessed based on student outcomes data, ranging from student transfer and completion rates to employment and wages after graduation, and whether they have engaged in scaled practices that led to high and improving student outcomes.
“Aspen Prize winners offer a powerful message: Community colleges can deliver the kind of life-changing education that makes the American Dream real,” said Josh Wyner, executive director of the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program. “Our job over the coming 20 months is to gather a lot more data and work with a deep bench of field experts to assess which of these 200 stand out so we cannot only honor them with a monetary award, but drive attention to the most effective field practices that other colleges can replicate.”
“I am very pleased that CCC continues to be recognized as one of the best community colleges for students in the nation and a tribute to our faculty, student support and administrative employees all working toward student success,” said CCC President Dr. Matt Gotschall.
In tribute
Donnell “Don” Hulme Jr., 93, of Ashland, Mass., former longtime resident of Hastings, Neb., died Oct. 10 at home.
Services were held Oct. 15 at St. Cecilia’s Church in Ashland with burial at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne.
He was born in Lawrence, Mass., to Harry and Catherine (Cummings) Hulme.
His 40-year career began with the Westinghouse corporation, giving him and his family the opportunity to live in several different states. He eventually became the plant manager of Thermo King transport refrigeration in Hastings.
He was an active member of the Hastings community, serving on the Mary Lanning Foundation and Central Community College boards of directors and working as a coordinator for CCC’s Small Business Institute and as a financial coordinator for TeamMates Mentoring.
He served honorably in the U.S. Army from 1955-57.
Survivors include his wife, Elizabeth “Betty” Hulme; five children; 11 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
Memorials may be made to the Central Community College Foundation, 201 Foundation Pl, Ste 200, Hastings, NE 68901.
Employee news
Administrative Office
Stephanie Brubaker has shifted positions as an IT systems engineer on the Infrastructure Team to an application database administrator on the Enterprise Team.
Columbus Campus
Doug Pauley of Columbus is retiring as associate dean of training and development.
He started work at the Columbus Campus in 1990 as an energy management circuit rider. In this role, he conducted energy audits for schools, cities, hospitals and nursing homes; established CCC as a regional training center for alternative-fueled vehicles and set up energy-related training classes. When the classes became more industrial in focus, leading Pauley to become training and development director. He transitioned into his current position in 2018.
While at CCC, he has worked extensively with the National Science Foundation and supported businesses and industries across the college’s service area.
Prior to CCC, he was a high risk engineer for an Iowa insurance company and conducted energy audits for the Heartland Area Education Agency in Des Moines, Iowa.
Pauley earned an associate’s degree in heating, air conditioning and energy management from Western Iowa Tech Community College in Sioux City and a bachelor’s degree in human resource management from Bellevue University.
He is a member of the Columbus CASA (Court-Appointed Special Advocate) board, Educational Service Unit 7 board, and Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce’s Business, Industry and Education Committee. He also works with the Columbus Economic Council.
He and his wife, Joan, have four children.
Hastings Campus
Jason Davis has been promoted from associate dean of community and workforce education to dean of student success and enrollment management.
NCMPR Awards
Receiving awards in the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations’ (NCMPR) District 5 Medallion Awards Competition were Yara Ramos Hernandez, Columbus print shop coordinator, third place for her design of the 2025 Hilltop Review; Scott Miller, senior communications director, first place for his Sounds of CCC radio ad series; and Kelsey Seidler, Hastings print shop manager, first place for her design of the Community Connection and a second place for her design of an adult education flyer.