NIC celebrates CTE's launch
JAKE PARRISH/PressNorth Idaho College welding student Randall Bramblee cuts the ceremonial chain on Wednesday to mark the grand opening of the college's Parker Technical Education Center in Rathdrum.
JAKE PARRISH/PressIn the lobby of the new North Idaho College's Parker Technical Education Center, more than 200 listen to NIC President Richard MacLennan speak at the grand opening ceremony for the Technical Education Center Wednesday evening in Rathdrum.
JAKE PARRISH/PressThe 110,000 square-foot, $20 million dollar Parker Technical Education Center offers state-of-the-art manufacturing and automobile repair and technology facilities.
JAKE PARRISH/PressFirst-year collision repair student Jacob Jasso, left, talks to Vince Barranco about the center's modern car painting facility on Wednesday.
For years, North Idaho College students have had to put their names on wait lists for classes in the Career and Technical Education program.
But no more. The new CTE building in Rathdrum is finally open.
Instead of a ribbon-cutting Wednesday for the building’s grand opening, the NIC administration and staff performed a more appropriate ceremony — a chain-cutting.
Second-year welding student Randall Bramblee got to do the honors. One of his teachers approached him about cutting the chain, telling him it was a tough job.
“It wasn’t as hard as he made it out to be,” Bramblee said. “I’m so blessed by this. It’s so awesome to be chosen for it out of all the students.”
During the speeches that preceded the chain cutting, NIC President Rick MacLennan spoke to the numerous groups and people within the communities of North Idaho that helped make the new building possible.
He mentioned many names, including past NIC presidents and board members that spearheaded the project, like Joe Dunlap and Priscilla Bell.
NIC Board Chair Ken Howard also spoke at the celebration, focusing on how the CTE building will be able to provide education for jobs for a long time.
“This vision reaches into the future ensuring our citizens have the education needed by the jobs of the future,” he said. “We must encourage and demand a desire for education.”
The CTE building is the largest capital campaign in NIC history and the most money the college has ever raised — $20 million.
Kassie Silvas, dean of the CTE program, told The Press after the speeches how blown away she was with everything regarding the new building.
“I’m proud on so many levels, for our community, for our industry partners and for our students,” she said. “I truly would like this to be a destination campus.”
Three hundred students moved into the building over the course of the past two weeks. Both the welding and machining classes are full.
Josiah Widmayer, a first-year machine and CNC — computer and numerical control — technology student, said he was very impressed with the new building. He also said it helped that his classes started on the NIC campus so he had something to compare the new, state-of-the-art facility to.
“Honestly it’s a lot safer,” he said. “It’s way bigger with state-of-the-art equipment, but the safety is emphasized.”
The new CTE building was purposely built so it can accommodate future expansions. The 110,000-square-foot facility only takes up 10 of the 40 acres of property it’s on and the building was designed so additions could be easily added on.
Big windows allow natural light to fill the rooms and hallways, something students requested for their learning space. The windows will also allow visitors to watch students work, without having to wear a hard hat, safety goggles or closed-toed shoes.
The building is shaped like a “U”, with one side dedicated to manufacturing-related classes and the other to automotive-related classes.
“This is a $20 million building, but when I look at it, I see a $40 million facility,” MacLennan told the crowd of students, parents, community members and NIC staff that showed up to celebrate the new education facility. “We’ve created a space here that’s second to none, a space that will show students this is what going to college means at NIC.”