Erin Neumann, Interim Executive Campus Dean and BJ McGinn, Athletic Director, DMACC Boone Campus May 18, 2026

On our program today, we're going to talk about Des Moines Airy Community College, DMACC, and we got Aaron Newman back joining us today, the campus dean, or what do we call it now? Yes, interim campus dean. Interim campus dean. And BJ McGinn, athletic director, because we have had a very successful athletic program. Nice to be with you, DJ. See, BJ, one of the things I got asked, next year, anniversary of Boone Junior College, where the bearer's name came from. Yes, it is. And they had football one year back in 1927. What are the chances? No. No. No, there aren't. That would be that would be an expensive endeavor head into that direction. Let's get started. We'll talk a lot about different things are going to obviously a lot of success with the athletic programs, Aaron. But graduation commencement and Dr. Lori Sudeck showed up. Yeah, absolutely. Yes. So DMACC's new president who's incoming in mid-June actually came to our graduation ceremony last week. So the Boone campus hosted graduation on Friday, May 8th. And we had 84 students walk the stage and many more than that graduated. Some of them were self well players who were busy. They were busy playing. Yeah. So we were very thankful that she could come see our campus and and see our ceremony and how we do things. It was a great ceremony. I hear she just was just very showed up and didn't just I'm just here to see. Yeah, I don't she didn't expect any certain, you know, VIP experience or anything. She was excited to just watch and see how the ceremony went. You had a chance to visit with some of the people. So yes. And then then you get to explain to her why while we're not we don't have a lot of softball players here because they are off. Yeah. They're off trying to go to the now going to the World Series again. So we got that. Again, we have that going on. I know we talked last time about some of the other things that are happening. Really, right now, registration, getting ready for are we getting ready for fall or most summer stuff taken up? Where are we at? You know, we still have some, you know, availability in summer classes. Some of our summer classes don't start until mid June. So if someone was looking at summer options, they could certainly still reach out to us. We're really in full swing with fall as well. Actively registering for fall as well. And that's for new students, people who are thinking about DMACC and not sure all the way through people who are returning and getting ready to graduate. So we have advising and student services there all summer who can help people with questions. Do we have a lot of coaches that hang around because they do a lot of advising, BJ? They take care of a lot of students. Yeah, no, we do. And, you know, they'll be here throughout the summer, just like, you know, the other the other folks are that that being said, you know, they'll get into, you know, working there, running their camps that we we do. You have our sports academy, you know, as well as, you know, going out, you know, doing signings with kids. Blake was just in Huxley yesterday at Ballard signing Young Man, which was really exciting to get you a great player. Obviously, they're coming off the state title. And they had a full gym for his signing. His actually high school coach actually his kids go to daycare with my kids. And we attend the same church. So it's kind of neat. Jeff, Jeff's a good friend of mine. But anyway, so yeah, they'll be doing a lot of those type of things. Certainly, there's really no end, like everybody's oh, you got to break. Well, there isn't one. This is this is the part we start pushing to get prepared for what's coming in next. So there's really not an off season per se. For for our folks, they're constantly, you know, obviously, baseball, softball, they're practicing right now at the high school level. Yeah, they start competing shortly. And so then baseball and softball will be on the road all summer out in the recruiting is probably four or five, six nights a week, because obviously one, two, three, four, a five a play at different nights of the week. So you're constantly traveling. And that's just within the state of Iowa, not only, you know, throughout the Midwest. So we got a few little golf going on. We got things like that, too, that they look at, but didn't want to ask you, okay, so we started the year. First of all, everybody focused getting ready to host the NCAA NCAA division to women's golf championship. Yeah, I mean, that's it's hard to believe that was a year ago, isn't it? That we were just going through that piece of a funny, funny, funny thing. So Friday, we're in commencement, my phone's on silent. And I get done and I got a call from a two one zero area code. So I'm trying to figure out what this is. So I, I call it back. Well, it's, it's a lady from the national office in Charlotte, North Carolina, they actually sent all of the banners and the T markers, right? So, you know, here, instead of the Tuscaloosa, Alabama. So I'm on the horn all afternoon on Friday after graduation, trying to figure out, you know, how to get the UPS, you know, deals so I can get them on these boxes. So I had to come in on Saturday, tape them up and get them to Ames to get them to Alabama on an overnight so that they were prepared for the tournament for the tournament. Well, you know what, hey, we'll make it work. So that's what we asked. The big thing, of course, is women, what a season. And they are off to the World Series in softball. Baseball team came on real strong at the end. So we've had, I mean, it's just another, it's been another great year. First time ever for the women's basketball team to go to the national tournament. Yeah. Kudos to Josh and that team. You know, I just have a couple, you know, notes here, you know, they ended up ranked 24th in the nation in 26 and nine, 14 and eight. In conference play, one of the region districts and qualified, but, you know, they had to go to Fort Dodge and went on the road. Didn't have to go to number five Kirkwood, whose coach just retired. Right. So it was his last run at it, beat them and then had to go to North Dakota and win a game. And that's that's quite a deal just to get to, you know, the national tournament. So, you know, great job by Jocelyn. I mean, they had an eight game stretch in, you know, last game in December and then seven, they lost like seven or eight in a row. And then found a way to get them together and get them going. So I mean, that's, and that's hard to do. Having done it, that's hard. So great job by her and her staff, just getting the gals to come together and keep them moving in the right. And they had some injuries they battled as well doing that stretch. So to be able to navigate that, I was really, really proud of her and her staff and what, what they were able to get done. Men's highly ranked all, all season long, but hard to beat the same team three times in a row and they hit Ellsworth, again, own conference team. And that now the last couple of years that they've been, seems like we end up with, I was central. Well, what was it? I have lakes a couple of years ago when they won. Yeah. I mean, because as I recall, we were talking about, I think the championship game was the one they played each other before. Right. And that's just speaks volumes to our league and the quality throughout the state of Iowa. But yeah, I mean, the men finished ranked number two, they finished 33 and three 20 on leak, which I don't recall a team going undefeated. Maybe when I was coaching some of those Kirkwood teams, I mean, or for coaching, yeah, you know, they had some stretches like that. But I mean, you know, and obviously, you know, Blake was coach of the year. I mean, it was, we had to feel Melcher was coach here in cross country and Seabot was coach here in golf. So we got the right people in place. That's good. But yeah, so they had a fantastic run. I was actually at that game because I was actually sitting with Ben Walker, who was my assistant, who's now at the University of Milwaukee, who played at Creighton with Corvair. And he's, he's looking to recruit. Yeah. Well, that they was recruiting Caden Tate, who actually just signed with North Dakota State, who was an all American for us here at T Mac and great young man, great student. So, but yeah, we're very proud of those guys and what they were able to achieve this year. And certainly, you know, another piece about spin off the basketball coach Tucker just was hired as the head coach at Kansas City, Kansas Community College. So not only are we moving on players, but we're moving on coaches, which is, you know, just speaks volumes to what the quality that what you got there. Again, it's really one of the big things. And students, because I've seen some of the results, some of the grades, pretty impressive. Yeah. I mean, they work at it. No, we're very proud of that. And that goes obviously, working with the student services side of the house and, you know, getting them into proper classes, making sure that they're, you know, following what they need to do to get done academically. Because obviously, you have to do that in order to have an opportunity to move on. You know, we're very proud of the fact that, you know, we're in the process of waiting on grades right now. Actually, they're coming in right now, right? So we'll get all our stuff in order in terms of where we're at, GPA wise, but as a department, certainly, and then each individual program. But, you know, we're very proud of the fact that in the last, you know, two, three, four terms, we've had over 80% of our kids over 3.0 GPA. That's good. And I will take that to bat with any other community college program in the nation. So if we're not first, we're tied for it. Right there. And again, people, the community college rigor, especially on our Boone campus, it's pretty, it's pretty strong. It's pretty intense. I always go back to how many scholarships are we pulling down and things like that. And there's a lot. Yeah, lots of scholarships we have, you know, in terms of the faculty that work there, we have a lot of people who've been there for a long time who are leaders, they're experts in their field, and they've decided they want to teach. And so I think that really assists or speaks to the rigor of the classes as well. And we're always very graciously supported by the DMACC Boone Foundation for scholarship support from many of our students. When we were at graduation last week, Abby Howie with the Boone Foundation greeted the graduates and congratulated them and asked those of them who had received a scholarship to stand. And it was a, I wish I'd counted it, but it was a large percentage of the graduating class who have received scholarship support. So that's what we were. And again, that's one of the reasons I know that, like Liguri recruits, you get valedictorians, you get salutatorians, honor students, students that are in honor programs, some of the athletics, that's a big part of it. You get the student as well as the athlete. Yeah, no, that's been a priority, you know, as long as I've been here. Certainly places I've been prior, but as long as I've been here, that's... Coach always likes to have that good, smart people. No, and that's all of our coaches. I mean, I think that that's one of the things that we don't compromise that piece. So if you don't want to be part of that piece of the program, then you don't need to come here. So we're very, very, we're very proud of our academic success and what we hold our kids accountable to. And that starts with me and the head coaches and on down. And I think that that's, if you don't have that part of it, then what are we doing? Yeah. Erin, the last time we talked, there was the STEM festival was coming up and had a lot of people turned out for that. And we did have Arbor Day and Earth Day activities going on. I saw there were trees planted, a couple of trees. Yeah, yeah, we had. So Dr. Tim Bergen, one of our biology professor of the past 30 years or so, leads our Earth Week activities. There were a variety of things there. But we did a couple of things relating to trees, which seemed to be very special. So we did have in April a tree dedication. The very first Earth Day back in 1970, maybe? Okay. Well, I was, I might have been there. Apparently at the Boone campus, at the very first Earth Day, they planted a tree in honor of that. And it was a tree that, that grew and thrived, but then between storms and ash borers and things had to be taken down. So Dr. Bergen coordinated a new tree planting and he dedicated it to Sandy Johnson, you know, a longtime Boone resident, a DMACC employee for many years, 50 plus years, because apparently she was at that first Earth Day as well. I would imagine her, probably both her and Harold. Yes. Speaking of athletics, right? Back to the beginning. Yeah. So we were really pleased that Harold and her family could come be part of that and honor her and plant trees. And then we're doing some broader things across the campus. We partnered with DMACC's horticulture program. And they have done a great job of looking at our campus. We have a beautiful campus with lots of trees. And, but we've, as I said, between storms and different sorts of pests and things, we've lost some trees. And so they are really helping us, those students are helping us develop a long-term plan of how do we replace them and not only replace them with beautiful trees, but trees that make sense in each area. So they actually went around our entire campus, audited, I suppose you'd say, every single tree made us a Google map and tagged every tree, which is hundreds of trees, and then have give us kind of a long-term plan of what, what to do and, and when with suggestions of, of species. So that'll be something over the next several years we'll work to do. But they did plant two trees by our West patio on Arbor Day as kind of a kick off to that. Okay. And I know, so I'm not going to say, are we going to build, have some trees planned for around the ball fields? Or are we leaving those pretty much wide open at some, I don't know if they've got a plan for you or not, BJ. Yeah, we haven't really got into the depth of that. You know, right, right now I'll tell you what, those trees behind the baseball diamond have grown exponentially since I mean, I can't, I can't watch baseball and softball at the same time. Now I got screwed around. You had to shift it a little bit. I can't, and I can't trim them because it's just not in the cards for those types of trees. So, but to your point, no, we really haven't talked a whole lot about up there. I think that there are some potential things we want to tweak up there a little bit before we get into planting those, but we will have a new tree going up for the softball World Series this year, our traditional, when the men or women qualify for baseball or softball, they get a plaque in a pair of trees. So, so that will be going in shortly. So a tradition that's been there for a while. And again, with the housing around there too, I know there were different things that were going to be done, but getting some trees around those that, that, I mean, it makes it, it just fills it out. Yeah, absolutely. It's exciting to think about long term kind of what those things might be and things that might develop and grow after we're retired gone, but, you know, we'll benefit the campus in the future. That's okay. I can remember where I went to college and what the trees were like when I went there and what they are now, the whole different thing. So, yeah, it does, it does a lot. So we'll look forward to that and see how they keep growing. Let's talk a little bit about getting ready. You've got some welcome events and things coming up. Yeah, we do. So at the Boone campus, first of all, people are always welcome to come in and, and talk with us about classes or questions. But we have a couple of dates set in the summer on June 9th and July 29th. And those are dates really for anybody. There are certainly dates for people who have applied to DMACC or planning to come in the fall and it's a time for them to register for classes and do orientation and meet instructors and staff. But really, we've had several people come to those to just kind of feel out DMACC to see if Boone is a, as a place for them that they'd like. Oftentimes it is, which we're happy about. But those are days that are free. We provide lunch and it's a great time to see the resources on campus and also to meet the people who would be on your team along the way supporting you. So, we encourage people to check, to check those out. Okay. So those happening and obviously the registration part is, during graduation, and I know because they talked about at the Boone School Board meeting recently was, like in the last 10 years, they had 16 students that graduated from DMACC before they did from high school. This year, seven. Uh-huh. Yeah. That's exciting and amazing to see that. Pretty impressive. And again, with all the DMACC campuses, 180 some, I think. Is that it? Okay. Way up. It's quite an accomplishment for those, yeah, for those students to achieve that. That's exciting. We keep doing that. B.J., you talked about camps and things like that. How do they come up? I think what? Volleyball is probably one of the first or do we know or? Volleyball is actually towards the end of the summer. Okay. I know we've got, and I don't have the dates right in front of me, but you can go to dbaccabears.com. Okay. And sign up on camps. There's a camp drop down that they can sign up. And men's and women's basketball have some stuff coming up in June. My daughter's actually going to attend Jocelyn's camp. Okay. I don't know. Hopefully, yes. Yeah. Arendt has as well, like through the same age. So, but yeah, those are coming up. And again, dbaccabears.com. You can go and do the sign ups online there. So parents, be looking for that. If you need help, call. Somebody will help. Yes. Somebody will be there to answer the phone. Yes. Otherwise, they're just getting ready registration, everything else. Some work programs, the things I always like to ask you about work programs. Oh, sure. Surprise. But again, those also for people that might be looking to see what's available through DMACC. And again, not just the Boone campus, but all of DMACC. You've got a lot of opportunities. We really do. We always like to talk about DMACC's workforce training academy or WTA for short. And that's one that's district wide throughout this throughout DMACC service area. But those are great opportunities because sometimes people do want to come and do associates degrees and transfer on. Sometimes people want a shorter term training because they're in the field and they want to move in up or they want to move into another field like nurse aid, for instance, or CDL. So yeah, DMACC's workforce training academy program is a great one to check out. So people who qualify for that funding have their tuition paid textbooks. If they're doing something like CNA, it pays for their scrubs and their testing and things. So there are some steps and qualifications that people have to do for that. So for instance, if someone was listening and they're thinking about doing a nurse aid in the fall, now would be the time to start working on those qualifications. But at the Boone campus, we have someone specifically who can help with that Christina McIntyre. So if people call the the main number, they could connect her to them. And if it was a program that's not at Boone campus, she can help connect them to the right place. So yeah, call it. It's the 515-432-7203 is our main number. Okay. Help is there. Yes. And opportunities both in athletics and yeah. And so if you're if you're a good athlete or you know a good athlete and you think they should try to try to convince them to visit DMAG and see what's available here. Like it because when they come and see the new facility and everything else, they get pretty, do they like that? Is that something because now you you can show things that a lot of other places have as well? Yeah, no, it always. Yeah, it know it is. And it's really put us on a level playing field with, you know, the Iowa westerns and the Kirkwoods and Iowa centros of the world. So, you know, and and obviously the proof is in the pudding, right? So it's over time, you know, it's it's been it's been a, you know, takes time process, you know, to a couple decades, right? But we're really evolved into, you know, a regional and certainly national, you know, run, you know, in contention for those those things. And it's just neat to see how it's evolved over time. And we're very proud of where we're at today. As a campus here in Boone, and look to keep it growing, huh? I mean, that's yeah, I mean, Aaron and I, and, you know, and Jamie, and we all kind of work hand in hand, just as a team, right? And find ways to help one another out and lean on each other for support. And I think that it's been a great, you know, group to work with. I know, I think we all feel that way. And I think that that's that's how you get it takes a village, right? And that's how you get everything things to work properly. That's what we're after. I do appreciate you taking time to come and visit Aaron and DJ and good luck to all the teams that are still playing. Yeah. Yeah, we're we're we're still hey, we've got women's golf playing today, softball and men's golf play next week and men's and women's track and fielder are competing in hops to Mexico right now. So well, so we got five still rolling. So we're not going to be done until about June 1. So all right. Thanks for visiting. Thank you. Yep. Thanks, Jim.