Presentations:
We welcomed our newest member, Hans Erchinger-Davis with the Light House Mission. He was proposed by Al Archer, Greg Grant and Teri Treat to fill the classification "Light House Mission" and introduced by Teri. Joe Coons did the Past President presentation. We will look forward to his New Member Talk in the future.
Robin Halliday and Dominique Zervas presented a Service Fund Grant to Trish Newbold of Whatcom Community College’s Girls Go Tech Program. GGT is a one day workshop for middle school aged girls to introduce them to technology and STEM careers. GGT has been in existence since 2010, and since that time approximately 200 girls have attended this event. This year WCC will host 24 girls in grades 6 – 8 on April 22nd where they will experience learning in two labs – CIS Cybersecurity,
and Physics. Primary funding for this program comes from a non-restricted Perkins Grant which will foot the bill for the program only. Rotary’s contribution will go towards feeding the girls lunch, for t-shirts, and for gift cards given to WCC students who sign up to assist with the event.
Program:
Whatcom at 50 – A Personal Perspective
Our speaker today was Bob Winters, Director of Arts & Humanities at Whatcom Community College. Bob started at WCC in 1985, when he interviewed for an English Instructor position. Bob and his wife drove up from Portland for the interview, and had never been to Bellingham. They drove around looking for a “campus” and found nothing but an old portable building at the corner of Smith and Northwest. Thinking that the campus construction must be at another location, and that this portable was serving as an interim office, Bob had his interview. Afterwards, his interviewer told them she would show them the campus. They drove through farmland, through small towns, but no campus. Finally they pulled into an empty parking lot of what appeared to be an abandoned grocery store (currently the site of Life Church at the intersection of Marine View Drive and Bennett Ave). This “abandoned grocery store” was the first Whatcom Community College building. And so began Bob’s 32 year engagement with WCC.
The community college system began with the 1967 Community College Act, put into place by then Governor Dan Evans, a historic event that was a declaration of the importance of community colleges. The Act formed 20 regional districts, and put Skagit and Whatcom Counties together as District 4. However, state Senator Frank Atwood insisted that, to protect what was then Bellingham Vocational & Technical School from being absorbed by Skagit, a separate district be created for Whatcom County. Thus District 21 was created.
In the beginning, WCC was created specifically to NOT be a bricks and morter campus, but instead to “borrow” buildings throughout the community in which to hold classes that the entire Whatcom County community could access – the infamous “college without walls”. Instead, wherever space could be found with an instructor being present, became a college classroom. The cost of one credit was $6, but perhaps you get what you pay for!
Finally, in the early 1970s, students became tired of criss-crossing the county to attend classes that were miles apart in distance. So WCC leased “Instructional Centers” in Bellingham, Lynden, Blaine, and of course on Marine View Drive.
(Side Note Regarding Marine View Drive: the building flooded during the rainy season, i.e. most the year, had an “overtaxed” septic system that would overflow into the parking lot, and fallout from the nearby cement plant took the paint off cars in the college’s parking lot. Not an ideal location!)
But with all the challenges, those teaching and those attending WCC experienced an exhilarating sense of being pioneers, and explorers whose dedication was to teaching students, not to a proper campus.
Students continued to appeal for a more traditional campus, and in 1987 WCC’s first building, named after first president William Laidlaw, opened on a 5.63 acre parcel of land in the Cordata area donated by David Syre and Trillium Corporation. This parcel was the beginning of what is now a 72 acre campus.
WCC today would have been unimaginable 32 years ago considering the size of the property, the modern buildings, state of the art programs and technology. WCC hosts students from around the world, and has been listed as one of the Best 150 Community & Technical Colleges in the United States.
What’s in store for WCC? The school’s first four-year degree, a Bachelor of Applied Science in Information Technology. On-campus residence halls. And the Charles & Phyllis Self building which will house a new library, open air café, and classrooms.
All while maintaining the college’s core commitment to putting individual students at the center of their culture.
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