Our Community, Our College: A Century of Impact

For a century, Western Nebraska Community College has been the Panhandle's place to learn, grow and belong. Now, for the first time, that full hundred-year journey is captured in one landmark volume.

"Our Community, Our College: A Century of Impact" takes you decade by decade through the remarkable history of WNCC — from its humble beginnings on the third floor of Scottsbluff High School in 1926 to its resilient response to a global pandemic nearly a century later.

• 1920s–1930s: A college born twice, a community that refused to quit, and the valley's first graduating class earning their degrees in the shadow of the Great Depression
• 1940s–1950s: A real campus takes shape, the Cougar Den opens its doors, and a nursing school forms in Alliance — while a 69-year era of service quietly begins
• 1960s–1970s: Nebraska Western College claims its own campus, student life flourishes and two-year colleges unite under the Nebraska Community College Association
• 1980s–1990s: Three schools become one under the WNCC banner, and the college stretches across the Panhandle through distance learning, new buildings and its very first online class
• 2000s–2010s: A Business and Industry Training center, a Powerline program and dual credit pathways accelerate student success into the modern era
• 2020s: Covid-19 reshapes education overnight — and WNCC rises to meet it, as adaptable as ever entering its centennial year

Including hundreds of photos and bound in a premium hardcover, this is the definitive keepsake for WNCC students, alumni, faculty and everyone who calls the Nebraska Panhandle home.

Ships October 2026.