KENNETT AREA RESIDENTS MAY BE "SHOPPING" FOR EDUCATION

KENNETT -- Area residents will be able to shop for an education as early as next year in a former grocery store that is being renovated to serve as a higher education center.

Southeast Missouri State University's Board of Regents gave a green light to the project at a closed-door meeting Tuesday in Cape Girardeau.

The building could be renovated later this year. Students could be taking classes in the building by January, said regent Doyle Privett of Kennett.

The renovation will include construction of an interactive television classroom that will allow students to take classes taught by faculty on the Cape Girardeau campus.

Privett said the Kennett Higher Education Center would offer various undergraduate classes, as well as graduate courses in the teaching field.

The former supermarket, which appraised for $950,000, covers 25,000 square feet. The site also has a huge parking lot.

The center at 1230 First St. would be operated by Southeast. The classes likely would be taught by Southeast faculty for the most part, along with some adjunct professors, Privett said.

Three Rivers Community College also might provide some of the teaching staff. Both schools currently have faculty who teach classes at the Bootheel Education Center at Malden.

Privett said residents of Dunklin and Pemiscot counties and northern Arkansas need improved access to college.

The closest "college" is the Bootheel Education Center at Malden, 30 miles from Kennett.

Privett said the new center also would improve Southeast's image in the region and could help the university boost enrollment.

"Hopefully, we can start drawing students from this area again,' said Privett.

Southeast currently gets few students from Kennett, which is 100 miles from the Cape Girardeau school.