Des Moines Area Community College has named Abby Zegers executive director of higher education in prison and adult education and literacy. She will oversee High School Equivalency Test programming, Department of Corrections Adult Basic Education and Post-Secondary Education, English Language Learners and the Adult Literacy Center at DMACC. She will be based out of the DMACC Urban Campus but travel to the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Mitchellville and the Newton Correctional Facility.  “Working in the prison’s educational system has its rewards and challenges; however, it is truly a different experience inside the walls of a correctional facility,” Zegers said. “There are so many other aspects to teaching and managing a classroom that have to be considered, and the students are some of the most invested I’ve ever taught.” DMACC’s place in the Second Chance Pell Experimental Site Program, which was announced in April, allows the community college to start offering Pell Programs in the prisons this year while regular Pell will be available to all beginning in July of 2023, Zegers said.  Zegers has been an adjunct instructor at DMACC for 13 years, with 10 years working in the Human Services Department and the last three years in the criminal justice department. Previously, she served as a correctional counselor at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women and as the education coordinator/life skills instructor at the Newton Correctional Facility.