New Director Discusses New Community Center

Tess DeGayner, Midland Daily News | Wednesday, March 8, 2023

**Andrew Mullin/Midland Daily News**
Carpenter Nick Studebaker, of Three Rivers Corporation, puts up wooden barricades for fall protection during construction of the new Greater Midland Community Center on March 7.

Andrea Secrease walked into the Greater Midland Community Center’s 50-plus center wearing construction gear on Monday. She said she was getting energized to meet the public in a “new capacity.”

The new executive director of the Greater Midland Community Center and Curling Center, who has been with Greater Midland for more than 12 years, met with Midland area residents to share her vision for the community center’s new building that is currently under construction, which will open in 2024.

“You can be in an organization for a long time and still find pockets of potential,” she said.

Secrease started her career with Greater Midland working in early childhood education, and was most recently executive director of the Greater Midland Coleman Family Center and Greater Midland North Family Center. On Monday, Andrea Conquest was named to succeed Secrease in those two positions.

“I am very grateful for the opportunity to lead in a new capacity, especially at such an exciting time for the organization,” Se-crease said. “Even being here for as long as I have, I find myself going, ‘Really, we’re involved in that?’ There is still something new after all this time.”

Greater Midland broke ground on the new community center last June. The current building, which opened in 1955, will remain open until the new one is completed. The new community center will connect to the curling center.

When asked about her vision as executive director, Secrease said she has a focus of meeting the “demands of the community.” She expects the new building to be inclusive and accessible. The goal is to “look at the current state of the organization and right-size needs.”

“We are looking at the current state with a fine-tooth comb and then putting strategy in place to transition teams and programs into the new building so that we are running as efficiently as possible,” Secrease added.

Regarding construction, Secrease said it is impressive to see how much progress has been made on the construction site. The nonprofit has new renderings of the building to release by the end of March.

“They (construction workers) said there will be structural steel on site soon. By the time I looked out the window, it was up! Seeing the project come together is making it very real,” Secrease said.