More than one-third of all area employees have taken a Kankakee Community College class at some point.

More than 90 percent of all area employers have hired a KCC grad.

During the course of a typical year, about 11,000 people will take a class at KCC.

It is estimated that completing a degree at KCC increases your lifetime earnings by about $1 million.

Those are not new numbers. They were compiled by the Center for Governmental Studies at Northern Illinois University, but KCC President John Avendano said they still ring true for the institution he leads.

Dr. Avendano is only the sixth president of the college, which now has passed its 50th year. Think sat down with him when he first came to the area nine years ago. We repeated the process this week. Questions were asked by Phil Angelo for the Daily Journal. Dr. Avendano’s answers follow; both are edited for length and continuity.

<strong>Has the state done its share? Is state aid coming through?</strong>

We are dealing with two years of aid. We still are owed money from the 2016-17 fiscal year. We anticipate $225,000 more from that year.

We are getting money on time for the 2017-18 year. We probably expect $1.2 million more. Of course, all eyes are set on what the state will do with its budget this year.

Historically, KCC would get $7 million in state aid. This fiscal year, we will get $3.4 million. The concern is that this will become the new norm.

<strong>Have you had to make cuts as a result of the lack of state support?</strong>

We have, unfortunately, had to reduce staff and reduce programs. We have cut the number of adjunct professors. Some of the full-time positions were dropped to part time. We sold WKCC.

We eliminated the child care program, which was a service for students and employees. That has been replaced with a federal Head Start program. We’re very happy with Head Start. If your family qualifies it is a much better option.

<strong>Are you going to get the Illinois money for the unfinished energy technology center? (The unfinished project is fenced off at the front of the campus.)</strong>

It had sat with no progress since July 1, 2015. It was two and a half years with nothing happening. We got notification in December to start work again, and we began moving dirt last week.

We could finally have courses on new renewable energy technologies in the center by March 2019, if all goes well.

<strong>How has enrollment been going?</strong>

We had a few years of decline after 2011 as the country recovered from the recession and people went back to work. The economy has turned around.

Our Corporate Training program has helped, and our enrollment has stabilized at 1,800 full-time equivalents and a total headcount of 2,700.

<strong>How has the North Campus (located on Illinois Route 50 in Bradley) been working?</strong>

It is fitting a good need, particularly in adult education.

We partnered with Riverside Medical Center, which needed space for its education and training program. The Riverside classes now are in their second year.

We also have used that facility for Workforce Investment Opportunity Act Training, which retrains workers for new jobs. That came into play when Bunge closed.

<strong>One of your environmental programs turns bottle caps into park benches. How is that going?</strong>

We are up to seven benches now. (One is visible on the concrete patio beneath Avendano’s office). We also have recycled a ton of plastic bottlecaps. Word has gotten out. People leave bags of bottlecaps outside my door at home.

The idea for the benches came from the Phi Theta Kappa honorary. KCC has one of the top 100 charters of the group in the country.

<strong>Were you pleased with the celebration of the college’s 50th year?</strong>

We have passed the 50th year of the college’s inception, which was established by referendum on Oct. 8, 1966. It will really be a series of anniversaries. The upcoming 2018-19 year will be the anniversary of the year when we opened our doors for classes.

We had a goal of having 400 people at our 50th gala event. We had to cut it off at 560.

<strong>As a former baseball player (shortstop at Waubonsee Community College), it must have done your heart proud to see KCC win the national junior college baseball title.</strong>

It was great. Those guys will have bragging rights the rest of their lives. The way they did it was so dramatic. They lost the first game, then came all the way back in the loser’s bracket (in a double elimination tournament).

It was KCC’s third national title. We won in softball and also have won in women’s basketball.

<strong>How is the Manufacturing Center (on Illinois Route 50) working?</strong>

There is a good crowd in the evening, when it is a hopping place.

This center reaches residents for some serious industrial training, with classes in machine tools, state of the art welding and classes in millwright work and fabrication.

<strong>One of the roles of a community college is to prepare students for jobs in the area. If you were a parent with a high school student, or a student, what jobs would you be looking at for the future?</strong>

We serve both needs. We do prepare students for jobs. We also prepare students to go on to other academic institutions, through transfer programs.

These days, nursing is strong and renewable energy is strong.

But manufacturing should not be overlooked. It is not fully understood that manufacturing means good solid jobs in our area at places such as Nucor, CSL Behring and Crown, Cork and Seal.

Once you get started in a company, who knows what you can eventually do.

Ninety percent of our graduates stay in this community; get jobs in this community and pay taxes in this community. Our grads stay here.

It is not unusual to have students who are undecided. Two of my children were undecided. All went to community college. Now, they are in physics, biology and business.

<strong>One program you have brought back is agriculture. How is that working?</strong>

We have struggled a little bit because the program at Joliet Junior College is very well established.

We do have a positive in that we have a connection with the University of Illinois.

<strong>One of the new initiatives has been the Lifelong Learning senior enrichment classes.</strong>

We put some emphasis on this for the 50th anniversary celebration, and a lot of people embraced it. We had many free classes as a gift to the community.

The reaction far exceeded our expectations. You want to keep your mind vibrant and keep engaged throughout your life. People should never stop learning.

<strong>The Pack the Park program for athletic events brings a school spirit.</strong>

It builds a level of spirit and pride, but it is not the only thing. We have club rush, where students can join a club and academic societies, such as Phi Theta Kappa and honor societies for paralegals and nursing.

<strong>What is the most fun you have in this job?</strong>

I work with some fantastic groups of people, students, faculty and board members. It means the world when I see our faculty and staff honored. Though I am an introvert, I do enjoy people.

There always is a special feeling on the day of commencement when you see the graduates walk across that stage with a true sense of accomplishment.

I hope our community is proud of what the college has done because we take great pride in serving this community.

Personal: 55. Married to Janet for 30 years. They are the parents of three: son Michael, 25; daughter Nikki, 23; and daughter Marissa, 21. All three are community college graduates.

Education: Avendano is a first-generation college student for whom English is his second language, associate degree from Waubonsee Community College; bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology from Northern Illinois University; master’s degree in adult continuing education from NIU; Ph.D in educational administration and foundations from Illinois State University.

Profession: His entire career has been in education, including administrative posts at Waubonsee and Illinois Central College. He now is in his ninth year as KCC president.

Community: President of the Illinois Council of Public Community College Presidents. Past chair of the South Metropolitan Higher Education Consortium President’s Council. Chair of the Economic Alliance of Kankakee County. Board member for Grundy-Livingston-Kankakee Workforce Investment Board, Cornerstone Services and Riverside Medical Center. Past co-chair for United Way of Kankakee County and the YMCA Pioneering Health Communities Advisory Committee.

Hobbies: Runs. Bikes. Reads, especially Nelson DeMille, author of “The General’s Daughter.” Travels, Hilton Head, S.C., Florida, Arizona, New York.

Honors: A distinguished alumnus and a member of the Fab 40 at Waubonsee Community College. Waubonsee’s Athletic Hall of Fame (a baseball player). Phi Theta Kappa Distinguished Administrator. Shirley B. Gordon Award for leadership in Phi Theta Kappa. Illinois State University Educational Administration and Foundation Hall of Fame.