Student - Teacher Interaction

Education

Kewanee is a city of choice, and educational opportunities abound for people of all ages in Kewanee.

There are two public school districts, Kewanee District 229 and Wethersfield District 230. Visitation School offers Catholic education for students in prekindergarten through eighth grade, and Black Hawk East College has a campus that serves Kewanee and the region.

The Kewanee district consists of Kewanee High School and four elementary schools - Lyle, Belle Alexander, Irving and Central. Prekindergarten and kindergarten students attend at Belle, first-graders at Lyle, second and third-graders at Irving and fourth through sixth grades at Central Elementary School. The junior high is also housed at Central.

Wethersfield’s campus includes the high school and elementary facility and the Blish Building, which houses the junior high school and administrative offices.

Both public school districts that serve Kewanee offer courses tailored to the students’ individual needs.

There are curriculum planned especially for college-bound students, and students also can choose vocational courses such as agriculture or industrial arts.

Both districts also work with Black Hawk College to offer advanced-placement collegelevel courses for high school seniors, a significant advantage to the college-bound student.

Visitation Catholic School, has grades prekindergarten through eight. Housed in a modern school building next to St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Visitation includes religious education in its program.

The Henry-Stark Special Education District serves special-needs students from throughout Henry and Stark counties, and is headquartered in new facilities on West Sixth Street in Kewanee.

Black Hawk College’s East Campus, located four miles south of Kewanee on Route 78, has more than 800 full-time students in several fields of study. The University Parallel program prepares students to transfer to a four-year school after completing their first two years at Black Hawk. Black Hawk East is nationally known for its agriculture program, which is supported by a new ag arena that’s used for rodeo competitions, livestock judging contests and community events.

Black Hawk also is one of the few community colleges in the nation that has an equine science program.

There also are courses and programs for those who don’t plan to attend college beyond the community college level.

Black Hawk East also recently opened its Community Education Center right across the street from City Hall. It includes classrooms for English as a Second Language and GED courses, among other academic offerings. There also are conference rooms, a computer lab that’s open to the public and office space for college staff and the Kewanee Economic Development Corp.