Kimberly Hastings of Orland Hills takes the oath of office April 30 as a member of the Moraine Valley Community College Board of Trustees from Judge Linzey Jones while her parents Mayor Kyle Hastings of Orland Hills and Mary Hastings look on.
For new Moraine Valley Community College Trustee Kimberly Hastings, of Orland Hills, it was a matter of wanting to pay back the institution that set her on the right course. And now she’s excited that she has an opportunity to do so.
Hastings and Michael Murphy of Evergreen Park took the oath of office on April 30 to begin serving six-year terms as trustees.
“Moraine Valley was the foundation of my higher education. I base my successes in my professional career on the strong, excellent academic foundation that Moraine Valley provided. This in turn granted me a path to continue to a four-year university to achieve my bachelor’s of science in Civil and Environmental Engineering. I find it is very important to give back to the community that has provided me a path to success,” said Hastings, who attended Moraine Valley from 2004 to 2006.
And after attending her first official meeting in May as a trustee, she’s even more convinced that she made the right decision to seek election. “I felt inspired! I was so impressed by our very own accomplishments such as students from the forensics team, winners of the League for Innovation in the Community College’s art and literary competitions, as well as winners of the Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference’s Art, Writing and STEM, and the women’s and men’s basketball teams’ conference championships. We truly have such a talented community at Moraine Valley,” said Hastings, who was elected to the board in April. She will serve a six-year term.
As a member of the board, she will oversee the continued growth of the campus. She sees that as the biggest difference between the time she was a student and now such as the addition of the Dr. Vernon O. Crawley Science Hall, the Moraine Business and Conference Center, the Health, Fitness & Recreation Center, and close to her home, the Southwest Education Center. Now underway is the conversion of Building G into the Student Success Center, which is expected to open in fall 2016.
And, of course, there will be other work to do. “My top priority is to continue Moraine Valley’s reputation of excellence in education and community involvement. I plan to accomplish this by keeping education affordable for our students, drive endowment growth for infrastructure improvement and scholarships and engage our state and federal government for adequate funding,” Hastings said.
For more information, call Mark Horstmeyer, director of College and Community Relations, at (708) 974-5275, or e-mail: horstmeyer@morainevalley.edu.
