On Monday, April 10, the Corvallis School Board and District Bond Oversight Committee celebrated nearing the end of the district’s bond projects and took a tour of the College Hill and Harding Center buildings, which will be completed this summer.
The evening began with a celebration attended by members from the Bond Oversight Committee and School Board and the Wenaha project management group staff. “We are coming together to celebrate and share appreciation and gratitude to mark the end of over nine years of work to research, plan, and implement the bond,” shared District Facilities and Transportation Director Kim Patten. “We are proud to finish all promised projects on scope and budget and that this work demonstrates our equity and design principles. We didn’t just build buildings; we grew our community.”
College Hill houses the district’s alternative high school program and serves around 165 students. When students return to their renovated building this fall, they will see new and renovated spaces that encourage them to connect with their peers and College Hill staff.
Highlights of the tour:
- Restrooms now include single-stall bathrooms with closing and locking doors and communal hand washing stations.
- A covered outdoor classroom space, allowing for year-round outdoor workspace for the construction program.
- Walking into the new servery and cafeteria area and seeing how it will allow students to get their food and enjoy an eating area with different kinds of seating.
- Viewing the renovation of locker room space to provide a new weight room for students.
- The renovation of the construction program classrooms, urban farm classroom, and science classrooms.
- Upgraded electrical and mechanical systems, increasing functionality and efficiency.
Attendees also toured the two-story portion of Harding Center, which again will be used as the district’s Central Instructional Media Center (CIMC) that houses all of the books, curriculum, and other educational materials available for check-out to schools.
Board and committee members reflected on the work over the last five years and the value those projects have added to our district to help our students be successful. “I was reflecting on our bond process. That we started with programs and started at the human end of it before we ever started thinking about facilities,” said school board member Vince Adams. “We had these programs supporting kids; we knew that was the right thing to do. Now we are building facilities around those programs.”
