City: Kansas City, MO

Category: Education

Telephone: (913) 469-8500

Address: 12345 College Blvd.

Description: Hear the deep, grinding sound of a bulldozer? Must be another building going up at Johnson County Community College. In the sleepy suburb of Overland Park sits a community college with the sheer size and academic power to rival many four-year universities. JCCC’s 18 redbrick buildings are linked by walkways and gardens dotted with outdoor sculptures and rimmed by 13 parking lots. No wonder first-timers need a map to get around the 234-acre campus. The campus has to be immense to support its enrollment: With more than 38,000 students each semester, JCCC is the third largest institution of higher education in the state. It offers a full range of undergraduate credit courses that form the first two years of most college curricula as well as more than 50 one- and two-year career certificate programs that prepare students to enter the job market. Its Center for Professional Education is the largest continuing education program in the region, enrolling more than 12,000 students in more than 600 certification workshops and seminars each year. But it’s the three-year Chef Apprenticeship program that’s brought the school national acclaim. Here’s where some of the country’s best chefs have trained; in fact the school has placed extremely well in international cooking exhibitions, usually bringing home gold and silver medals.