LEWISTON, Idaho – Idaho Gov. Brad Little will be one of the featured speakers when Lewis-Clark State College holds a groundbreaking ceremony for its new Schweitzer Career & Technical Education Center. The ceremony will be Friday, April 19, at 10 a.m. at the construction site, located just north of where the new Lewiston High School is being constructed on Cecil Andrus Way in the Lewiston Orchards.
The scheduled 30-minute ceremony is free and open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to carpool and arrive early to allow time to walk or be shuttled to the ceremony site, which will be marked by a large white tent at the end of Cecil Andrus Way. People attending are asked to follow the direction of on-site parking attendants. A shuttle service will be available for those directed to park in the lot south of the high school construction site or on the north side of the P1FCU parking lot. For safety purposes, attendees are prohibited from walking through the high school construction site.
LCSC President Cynthia Pemberton will give an opening welcome and discuss the collaboration between the Idaho Legislature, college, school district, and community to make the building a reality. Gov. Little will follow, and there will also be brief statements from District 5 Sen. Dan Johnson of Lewiston, a representative of Rogers Motors, and Ed Schweitzer from Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories. SEL donated $2 million to the project while Ed Schweitzer, founder of SEL, and his wife Beatriz donated another $1 million. Rogers Motors donated $150,000 for the naming rights of the auto shop at the new center.
“We are honored to have Gov. Little and so many other supporters of the project on hand for this momentous occasion,” Pemberton said. “The Schweitzer Career & Technical Education Center will stand as a lasting symbol of what is possible when we work together toward a common goal. Students, industry, and Idaho will benefit from this collaboration for decades to come.”
Following remarks, the speakers will don hard hats and grab shovels for the ceremonial groundbreaking. Former LCSC President J. Anthony (Tony) Fernandez will serve as the master of ceremonies.
The Schweitzer Career & Technical Education Center is scheduled to be open in time for the fall 2020 semester. It will be a regional CTE center, serving the needs of students from LCSC, neighboring Lewiston High School, and others throughout the region. The 75,000 square-foot facility is expected to house most of LCSC’s Technical & Industrial Division programs including auto mechanics technology, CNC machining technology, information technology, engineering technology, industrial electronics technology, and heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC-R) technology.
The Idaho Legislature approved the project and appropriated $10 million towards it in 2017. As part of the subsequent fundraising effort, LCSC has generated $5,243,200 through private donations and grants to date. The most recent construction bids place the total cost of the project at $24.8 million. To learn more about naming opportunities or to make a donation toward the Schweitzer CTE Center visit: www.lcsc.edu/giving.
Note: the artwork shown above is an artist's depiction and may not necessarily reflect the final design of the building.