Lower Columbia College Sees Largest Enrollment Increase To Date
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Lower Columbia College was founded in 1934, during the economic turmoil of the Great Depression.
But despite tough times, LCC officials back then realized they needed to help their community by providing students with opportunities to earn educations that could lead to future in-demand careers.
As a result, students by the hundreds enrolled to take courses at LCC when the college first opened.
“And now, during these current tough economic times in 2009, LCC is experiencing the largest student enrollment in our history,” says Dr. James McLaughlin, president of Lower Columbia College. “We have 3,000 full-time students and 2,000 part-time students taking a variety of classes. Again, here is LCC helping students intelligently prepare for the future, with our commitment to the community being just as strong as it was in 1934.”
That commitment today continues with the college’s recent announcement that it will construct a new LCC Health and Science Center on campus. Funding for the project was approved by the Washington legislature, and plans are currently in the design phase.
“There continues to be a strong demand in the health care industry for nurses. We graduate 125 nurses every year and have been doing so for 50 years,” McLaughlin says. “Construction of the health and science center will begin in July 2011 to house our excellent nursing program, as well as provide new labs and classrooms for all of our science programs.”
The new construction project comes on the heels of LCC opening its Rose Center for the Arts in June 2008. The performing arts complex includes a 500-seat Wollenberg Auditorium, an intimate Center Stage Theatre & Lecture Hall, an art gallery, band and orchestra rehearsal space, classrooms and meeting rooms.
In addition, the lobby floor features an advanced radiant heating system to reduce heating and cooling costs, while terrazzo floor tiles add to the beauty of the space. It features a colorful, 40-by-10 mural by artist Lucinda Parker. It is titled Where Water Comes Together With Other Water, which represents the confluence of five rivers in the Cowlitz County region.
“The lobby is also one of the most beautiful gathering spots and meeting spaces in all of Cowlitz County,” McLaughlin says. “All of us at LCC are very proud of the Rose Center, with good reason.”
Lower Columbia College is also proud of a commitment it has made toward workforce training, and nearly 50 percent of the 5,000 students at LCC are enrolled in some kind of workforce training curriculum.
“I serve on the board of directors for the Southwest Washington Workforce Development Council, which coordinates academic programs for high-demand, high-paying career fields in which students can pursue degrees,” McLaughlin says. “LCC has built up a tremendous reputation as a college where it’s a smart move for any student to attend. That’s probably why 35 percent of high school graduates in this region attend LCC in their freshman college year. Lower Columbia College is here to help any student gain valuable classroom knowledge, which is especially important these days when economic times are tough.”
Story by Kevin Litwin
