Blue Mountain Community College will celebrate the opening of the Workforce Training Center, the first of three major bond-funded construction projects to be completed, during an open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, April 27.
The event is open to the public, and includes a ribbon-cutting with the Boardman Chamber of Commerce, comments from BMCC President Cam Preus and Board Chair Chris Brown, refreshments, tours of the facility and an appearance by Timber, BMCC’s Timberwolf mascot. In addition, the College will dedicate the “Carlson Room”, a conference room named after Louie and Betty Carlson of Heppner, who have contributed many years of service and volunteerism to BMCC, as well as Morrow County. Louie Carlson is a former Morrow County judge, and his wife, Betty, served many years with the BMCC Foundation.
The Workforce Training Center, adjacent to the SAGE Center on Olson Road in Boardman, replaces the former BMCC Morrow County Center, which was located just down the road. The facility not only offers general and community education courses, but also houses BMCC’s Data Center Technician, Industrial Systems Technologies and Early Childhood Education programs.
The Workforce Training Center is the first of three major construction projects to reach completion. Voters approved a $23 million bond in May 2015 to construct the facility, as well as build a Precision Irrigated Agriculture Facility in Hermiston and an updated agriculture center on the Pendleton campus, known as the Facility for Agricultural Resource Management (FARM). The Precision Irrigated Agriculture facility, located on Oregon State University Hermiston Agricultural Research and Education Center property, is set for completion this June, with a grand opening on June 29.
The FARM is slated for completion in September. Other improvements funded by the bond were completed on the Pendleton campus last summer, and additional upgrades will be made this summer for renovated student use spaces, safety and security improvements, and HVAC/electrical updates.
