The first cohort of the Growing Together Career Scholars program at Wayne State is in its final stage of living and working, housing in newly constructed townhouses located at Third Street and Winter Avenue in downtown Norfolk.  

The Growing Together program’s focus is to fill the demand for young employees in Northeast Nebraska. During the first three years, the cohorts are enrolled in Fundamentals of Professional Practice courses centering around career readiness. There are multiple opportunities for students outside the course, which include job shadowing, visiting businesses and making connections with future employers. This is all in preparation for the student’s fourth year. Seniors in Growing Together will live and work in Norfolk, Columbus or Grand Island.  

Scholarships are awarded each year. During a student’s senior year, scholarships totaling up to  $10,000 are awarded for housing.  

Michael Keibler has a close partnership with the community, the City of Norfolk, and the Growing Together initiative through Aksarben in growing this program. As of now, there are thirty students housed in Norfolk working paid internships. Students’ majors vary from education, electronic media, marketing, accounting, computer science and finance.  

This addition to the Norfolk Community is “an extension of Wayne State College,” Keibler said. “When the students first come in their freshman year they are in a cohort. They go through and they live in Neihardt, a living-learning community, then they are in six semesters of fundamentals of professional practice. They are in class together, living together and studying together, across multiple majors and multiple fields of study. We are finding that over those three years, there has been a natural bond that has connected the students together. We are seeing that carry over into Norfolk with the first cohort.  The community is something that has organically grown.” 

 “Cohort one is a tight knit community,” Delaney Meyer, a senior at Wayne State and Growing Together Scholar said. “Most of us spend time outside of work and bond with one another. Moving to a new town, it is nice to see familiar faces in the apartment complex and in the community.”  

There is still plenty of work left for the development in Norfolk seeing as they recently broke ground for a second housing unit on Philip Avenue. “They are close to finishing the riverfront project for tubing and kayaking down the river” though there are no certain dates Keibler said.  

“It feels as if we live in a construction zone as of now, but I see the future of a community where everyone spends time together outside, grills, and builds that sense of community,” said Meyer.  

In the years to come, this project will continue to grow in both construction and scholars. The cohorts are increasing in number of students each year with an expected total of 45 scholars in the next Senior class and 75 in the third cohort. Nobody in higher education today is doing what the Growing Together Scholars Program is doing. “It is definitely unique in today’s market,” said Keibler.