Dana Young, president of Treasure Valley Community College, stands in front of heavy machinery during a groudbreaking ceremony for the new Career and Technical Education Center due to be completed next January. (The Enterprise/Joe Siess)
ONTARIO – Officials broke ground last week on the new Career and Technical Education Center at Treasure Valley Community College.
They gathered Thursday, Jan. 23, on the campus lawn across from the Vocational-Technical Education building for a ceremony as bulldozers chugged and clanked only feet away.
Dana Young, college president, and state Sen. Lynn Findley, R-Vale, inaugurated the new project.
The work, which includes remodeling and expanding the current Vocational-Technical Education building as well as construction of the new Career and Technical Education Center, is meant to provide the space and resources for technical education programs for students in key industries in the region.
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Those industries, according to a press release from the college, include agriculture, natural resources, manufacturing and welding.
At the ceremony, Young told the crowd the project is scheduled to be finished by next January.
“With an updated and expanded facility, TVCC can build a skilled workforce that will support existing business, attract new industry, and be the catalyst for economic recovery in this region,” Young said.
She invited industry and private donors to help equip the new facility, and said there are opportunities to honor donors through classroom naming options.
Young said that in addition to a federal grant, the $5.3 million project got an additional $975,000 in state money to close the gap on construction costs. Findley got the funding set aside while still serving as state representative.
Findley, a former student at Treasure Valley Community College, addressed the crowd after Young.
“A strong healthy community requires a vibrant education system,” Findley said. “TVCC is a critical component of our education system. We have to have this college and it has to work well to make this valley economically viable.”
Findley cited the importance of a trained workforce in creating a heathly economy.
“Recent studies show that 50% of the workforce in Malheur County drives across the river from Idaho,” Findley said. “We have to do better. We have to train these folks to stay here.”
Sen. Lynn Findley, center, stands with Cheryl Cruson (left), Treasure Valley Community College board chair, and board member, Betty Carter (right). (The Enterprise/Joe Siess)
News tip? Contact reporter Joe Siess: [email protected] or 541-473-3377.
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