In 2015 and 2016, Dylan Haun served as a student trustee on the Danville Area Community College Board of Trustees, where he got to know many of the current and former trustees while also playing a part in decisions about the college’s future.
Five years later, Haun–who is a safety engineer at Guardian West in Urbana–is one of three people seeking two, six-year term seats as a regular trustee. He says that serving as a trustee would be a way of repaying the experience he got at the school.
“DACC played a huge role in opening doors and kind of catapulting my success and my career so far,” he explains. “I believe it’s an opportunity for me to kind of give back to the college that has given so much.”
Haun says that one of the biggest concerns he has is retaining students. He says that DACC has several different programs that can jump start a career, such as the nursing and manufacturing programs, but he says that some might have the impression that the college is a last resort for people who can’t get into bigger schools.
“There’s a multitude of programs out at DACC that I truly believe should be a first option, and the students who choose those– whether they’re traditional or non-traditional–shouldn’t feel bad or ashamed, because they’re awesome programs,” he says.
Haun says he supports the trustees’ recent decision to raise tuition by five dollars per credit hour, as he says it is more fair to students than waiting several years and then substantially raising tuition rates. He also says that students have multiple opportunities with scholarships through the DACC Foundation to help offset the cost of their higher learning experiences.
