Public and Private Schools
Hastings residents are committed to quality education and opportunities for students, as they are aware that tomorrow’s labor force is found in today’s student.
The Educational Service Unit 9
www.esu9.org
The Educational Service Unit #9 serves over 9,600 students who attend 14 school districts in five and one-third central Nebraska Counties. These central Nebraska counties include Adams, Clay, Hamilton, Nuckolls, Webster and the southern one-third of Hall County.
Educational Service Unit 9 provides a variety of special education services by contract to local districts. Area schools also receive assistance with continuous, quality improvement (accreditation), preschool education, professional development, technology infrastructure, instructional technology and media services.
ESU 9 is accredited by the Nebraska Department of Education and AdvancEd, a worldwide leader in agency assessment.
Adams Central School District
www.adamscentral.us
The Adams Central School District encompasses nearly 300 square miles mostly in rural Adams County. Serving over 950 students in grades PreK-12, the district is made up of one junior/senior high school building, one elementary building and one preschool building. Adams Central District celebrated their 50th year in 2018 with a variety of special activities. Adams Central continues to build on its rich academic tradition, featuring a curriculum with more than 50 class offerings. Students are given the opportunity to pursue a variety of academic interests, including those in the arts, sciences, humanities and technologies. Adams Central High School also offers a number of honors programs and courses for college credit. Along with its strong academic tradition, Adams Central offers a variety of extracurricular activities in the areas of academics, athletics, arts, science and technology and leadership. Students in the Adams Central district are served by 80 certified staff members, 55 support staff members and 6 administrators. In the classroom, the student-to-teacher ratio is an impressive 12-to-1. The average years of teaching experience in the district is 18.35, and 46 percent of teachers hold a master’s degree. The Adams Central school district maintains a continual process of school improvement. Teachers, administrators, school board members and community members are involved in this process that directly impacts the quality of the school district. Through this process, Adams Central is accredited through AdvancED and its students continually produce some of the best test scores in the state.
Hastings Public Schools
www.hastingspublicschools.org
The Hastings Public School District serves a significant majority of the students within the city limits of Hastings. The district has five elementary schools (Alcott, Hawthorne, Lincoln, Longfellow and Watson), one middle school (grades 6-8) and one high school (grades 9-12). The district has five nationally recognized schools and is working toward national recognition for all seven.
The district has an enrollment of 3,700-plus pre-K through 12th-grade students. Given its size, the district is able to provide students with the programming and services of a large school while maintaining the caring and safe environment of a small school.
HPS offers a solid academic program that prepares students for further study at the post-secondary level and/or for the world of work. The school provides a comprehensive curriculum that includes offerings in the fine arts, skills and technical sciences, world languages and a range of career pathways. In addition, the school offers extensive student support services. A broad extracurricular program is also available to provide all students with a means to express their special talents and to learn important lessons for life.
Hastings Senior High is one of a few schools in Nebraska that have been accredited for over 100 years. The entire district is accredited by AdvancED, the largest accreditation association in the world.
Hastings Catholic Schools
www.hastingscatholicschools.org
Hastings Catholic Schools (HCS) is a school community where students encounter Christ, grow in knowledge, and become Christian witnesses.
HCS is a K–12 system, with St. Michael’s Elementary (grades K-5), St. Cecilia Middle School (grades 6-8) and St. Cecelia High School (grades 9-12). St. Michael’s pre-K program is offered for ages 3 to 5 in conjunction with St. Michael’s Catholic Church serving nearly 100 preschool students.
HCS has an average enrollment of 475 students and an average of an 11-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio. Over 70% of HCS faculty hold master’s degrees. The 2018-2019 faculty/staff include nine priests and four religious sisters.
Hastings College
www.hastings.edu
Hastings College is a private, residential four-year college that serves about 1,200 students. With more than 60 majors and 14 pre-professional programs, Hastings College and it’s highly engaged faculty and staff mentor motivated students to be confident in who they are and where they want to go in life.
Hastings College employs faculty members who pride them-selves on classroom teaching and maintains a 12-to-1 student/faculty ratio. In this environment, Hastings College students build lifelong relationships with their professors. They work together not only in the classroom but also as students seek internships, secure international study opportunities and research grants, apply to grad schools and conduct job searches.
In addition to the national accolades Hastings College (HC) has received from U.S. News & World Report, Barron’s and The Princeton Review, HC was recognized by Washington Monthly for community service.
Hastings College draws students from diverse backgrounds. They call Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas and several other states and countries home. Some are Presbyterian; most are not. Minorities currently comprise more than 10 percent of the student population. Hastings College provides an environment in which students raised on ranches and farms learn and live with students from metropolitan areas.
With more than 100 campus organizations and clubs including musical groups, a national-ranked forensics (speech) team, the HC Organization for Applied Sciences and community service groups such as Food for Thought and an active student government, HC students have many opportunities to hone their talents and leadership skills. Through their theater and musical productions, art exhibits, symposiums that attract national speakers and community involvement, students provide unique and diverse entertainment opportunities to people in surrounding communities.
As a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and the Great Plains Athletic Conference, Hastings College offers 21 sports. Home of the Broncos, HC men and women compete in basketball, cross-country, indoor and outdoor track, golf, soccer and tennis. Men also compete in football, baseball and wrestling while women compete in volleyball and softball.
Sitting on slightly rolling, tree-lined acres, the Hastings College campus features state-of-the-art facilities such as the Morrison-Reeves Science Center, the Osborne Family Sports Complex and Fleharty Educational Center and the six-building Bronco Village student apartments. The stately McCormick Hall, built in 1883 as the college’s first building, stands as a reminder of the college’s history of 130-plus years, and classes are still held within its walls today. The campus connects to Heartwell Park, where many students like to study outdoors, and to Hastings’ running and biking trails.
Central Community College
www.cccneb.edu
Central Community College (CCC) is a multi-campus community college serving a 25-county area in central Nebraska – approximately 14,000 square miles with a population of more than 300,000.
CCC offers degrees, diplomas and certificates in 35 career and technical education programs which provide a number of career options in the areas of agriculture, food, and natural resources; business marketing, and management; communications and information systems; human services and resources; and skilled and technical sciences, as well as academic transfer courses in 25 areas for students who plan to attend CCC for two years before transferring to a four-year college to complete a bachelor’s degree. CCC-Hastings is also home to the state’s only two-year dental hygiene program.
In addition, the college offers classes in communities throughout its 25-county service area, online learning and training and development for businesses, industries and other organizations. The three main campuses are located in Hastings, Grand Island and Columbus and education centers are located in Kearney, Holdrege, Lexington and Ord. Additionally, CCC uses a variety of distance
learning techniques to provide educational services in some 70 communities in its service area.
CCC-Hastings offers a number of campus activities, clubs and organizations. Six residence halls provide on-campus housing.
Mary Lanning Healthcare School of Radiologic Technology
www.marylanning.org/education/school-of-rad-tech
Mary Lanning Healthcare School of Radiologic Technology is a hospital-based program established to provide well-qualified radiographers. Upon successful completion of the 24-month program, the graduate is awarded an Associate of Applied Science degree and is eligible to apply for the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists certification examination. The school is affiliated with the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Hastings College, and Central Community College for advanced/other degrees. The Radiologic Technology Program is approved for 60 credit hours toward a Bachelor of Science Degree in Health Science from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Health Technology from Hastings College and an Associate of Science Degree in Radiography from Central Community College-Hastings.
Creighton University College of Nursing – Mary Lanning Campus
www.creighton.edu/nursing
Creighton University, a leader in innovative nursing programs, has earned a national reputation for providing excellence in nursing education. The Creighton University College of Nursing – Mary Lanning Campus in Hastings offers students a unique opportunity for educational excellence in the convenience of a small-town environment.
Through a partnership with Mary Lanning Healthcare, a nationally recognized hospital, Creighton is able to offer the Accelerated Nursing Bachelor Degree and core courses of the graduate nursing program. Distance technology including video, web and transmission are used to provide students with access to the most expert nursing faculty. The Accelerated Bachelor Degree curriculum prepares students to enter professional nursing practice. The senior preceptorship provides students with a strong foundation in both theoretical knowledge and clinical skills. Graduates of the BSN program are ready to face the challenges of an ever-changing health care system.
The Accelerated Nursing Bachelor Degree Curriculum has been available to students on the Hastings campus for over 10 years. Students who have a four-year college degree with a minimum GPA of 3.0 and have completed the nursing prerequisites are eligible to apply for this intensive one-year program.
The rigorous one-year curriculum recognizes each person’s past experiences and builds on those strengths. Classes begin each January on the Mary Lanning Campus.
Creighton University continues to set the standard and is the first in the state to offer the Doctor of Nursing Practice, which is designed for nurses seeking a terminal degree in clinical practice. Nursing students seeking a Master of Science degree can select from a variety of Advanced Practice Registered Nurse specialty tracks as nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists.
For more information, visit the Creighton University nursing website at www.creighton.edu/nursing.