Another year at Big Bend

President talks on college's new capital projects and programs

MOSES LAKE — Classes got under way for the start of the 2005-2006 school year at Big Bend Community College Monday.

Nine months after the opening of the college's largest project to date, the $15 million Grant County Advanced Technologies Education Center (ATEC), plans are under way to begin more projects and expand programs in the new school year.

One of those projects currently in progress is a $3.5 million renovation and remodel of the Wallenstien Theater, a building that was once used as a movie theater on the former Larson Air Force Base where the college now sits.

When completed, Wallenstien Theater will house both visual and performing arts after renovating the existing theater and making needed improvements to the stage, dressing rooms, gallery and include an orchestra pit.

A new building for the college's vocational program is also being planned.

"There's a whole expanding world of transportation that we could grow into with a new facility," said BBCC President Bill Bonaudi of automotive course offerings.

Bonaudi highlighted the growth taking place in the automobile industry such as the availability of hybrid cars that could open up new programs of study in the vocation department. Providing more courses and classroom space are other factors behind the college's push for the project.

Replacement of BBCC's 17 training aircraft, which is estimated to cost $3.5 million, is a goal the college wants to continue working on in the new school year. Most of the aircraft are over 20 years old and have logged more than 11,000 flight hours.

Last year the college informed the state Legislature of this need and received half a million toward that goal, Bonaudi said. "We were gratified that they understood our problem and began the process of helping us replace (the planes)."

BBCC will be going again to plead its case to the state Legislature and present to the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges to request further funding to replace its training aircraft and build a new vocational education building.

Attracting international students to campus and providing more degree offerings continue to be goals for BBCC in the upcoming academic year.

The college believes the key to attracting foreign exchange students is through an Intensive English Language program (IEL), and it is a component that most international programs in the U.S. have as well, Bonaudi said. Once those students come to the area, the hope is that they will see other opportunities to receive education and move into other college programs.

IEL is a program meant to serve non-native English speaking students in helping them achieve a level of English proficiency to pass the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)

The IEL program is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2006.

Partnerships among BBCC, other universities and educational institutions and community organizations will continue to be an ongoing focus.

In recent months, meetings between BBCC and the Columbia Basin Job Corps have resulted in discussions about sharing space, teaching and funding resources.

Bonaudi said the college is close to a formal degree partnership with Central Washington University that would bring their first degree to the BBCC campus. That degree would be in aviation. Discussions are also taking place with Heritage University to offer another one of its degrees at BBCC as well.

Continuing to talk with local school districts about how the college can provide services to their students such as distance learning sites where classes are transmitted via satellite to outside cities and towns, will continue.

As far as major challenges, Bonaudi foresees funding for future capital projects and equipment replacements in the vocation and aviation programs to be the most significant hurdles to overcome.

The funding for the vocational building and the air craft equipment "will be a much steeper slope that we're going to have to climb," he said.

The budget for the 2005-2006 school year is projected at $12.6 million with a total enrollment as of Monday at 1,404.