Celebratory crowd at skills center grand opening

MOSES LAKE - Students stood at the door to greet people attending the grand opening of the new Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center, led tours of the facility, answered questions, kept on working on their projects. And the point about the new building, district superintendent Michele Price said, is that it's for the students.

The $19.7 million building opened for summer classes about 10 days ago, the culmination of a project that's been discussed, off and on, since the early 1980s, Price said. Moses Lake School Board chair Connie Opheikens recalled that district officials were working on ways to get a skills center when she came to town in 1985.

Skills center classes will be open to students up to age 21 in Moses Lake, Ephrata, Wilson Creek, Quincy, Lake Roosevelt (Grand Coulee), Royal, Warden, Soap Lake, Almira/Coulee-Hartline in Grant County and Othello in Adams County. Students will attend either the morning or afternoon session, and spend the rest of the day at their own school.

"This is a great day," said Rep. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, who worked on getting the money for the project. The United States was built on "good hard work," Warnick said, and the skills center will allow kids to start the training they need to get the jobs they want. It's good for Moses Lake and all of Grant County, Warnick said.

John Aultman, who worked as the project consultant, said students will be asked to sign a pledge that they will get post-secondary education or training. District officials have signed agreements with some businesses and unions that will allow qualifying graduates of the skills center to enter apprentice programs, he said. They're working on additional agreements, he said.

The goal, Aultman said, is "daylight to dusk utilization," cooperative classes with Big Bend Community College, training with community partners, allowing community classes. "We want a third session," he said, referring to evening classes.

Skills center director Christine Armstrong said that while the building was in the planning stages, she asked employers the kind of skills they wanted in prospective employees. The answers actually had little to do with training, she said.

They wanted workers who would be on time, would come to work every day and would exhibit a positive attitude, she said. She has, she said, made that the skills center's goal, to be on time, reliable and show a positive attitude.

Opheikens, Price and Armstrong cut the official ribbon provided by the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce, along with skills center students. Students stood outside every room to greet visitors, and the culinary arts class provided the refreshments.