Allen Community College sophomore Ra’Nayla Moten was celebrated at Wednesday’s College Trustees meeting for her prowess on the track and field stage.
The Red Devil sophomore capped off a scintillating weekend at the NJCAA Indoor National Championships in Topeka, winning the 60-meter dash and placing second in the 200-meter dash, while resetting the school and Region VI records in the latter in the 2026 indoor season.
“She pretty much killed it at Nationals,” ACC track coach Greg Taylor told the trustees.
Moten, who has signed to compete next year at Texas Tech University, is now a seven-time All-American.
Vince DeGrado, Allen’s former track and cross country coach, predicted the Conway, Ark., native will soon shine on a much brighter stage.
“We’re gonna end up seeing her in two years at the (Olympic) trials,” DeGrado predicted, with an eye on competing in the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.
THE COLLEGE should know in June whether its application for a federal grant to construct a facility for diesel technology and Commercial Driver’s License programs is successful.
If approved, the grant would help pay for construction for a new facility, although the CDL training program will commence this fall regardless.
Kara Wheeler, Allen’s vice president for academic affairs, showed Trustees an preliminary engineer’s report for an 8,800 square-foot facility, as well as an 18,000 square-foot training pad for the CDL program, which carries an estimated $5 million price tag.
The federal grant, if approved, would pay for 80%, with the college responsible for about $1 million.
The engineers target land immediately north of the college’s new maintenance building. Wheeler said the project would include natural barriers, such as trees and an elevated berm, to insulate the new facility from neighboring landowners.
In a related matter, Anne Marie Foley, sociology instructor and ACC faculty senate president, shared with trustees a space allocation and facilities master plan recommendation endorsed by the faculty.
The faculty consensus — roughly two-thirds of the 21 responses — said trustees should consider upgrades to the ACC Lecture Hall as they work through a series of campus improvements in the coming years.
A mid-term priority, perhaps in the next three to five years, should be to build a new performing arts center.
Trustee Becky Nilges asked about whether the faculty group has visited with anyone from Iola’s Bowlus Fine Arts Center.
Foley and Tricia Stogsdill, ACC drama and film instructor, said they had.
