The Clackamas print., June 06, 2018, Page 3, Image 3

D e J ardin
breaks new ground
BY JEANETTE WRIGHT
NEWS EDITOR
C la c k a m a s C o m m u n ity C o lle g e
celebrated the groundbreaking fo r the
DeJardin Hall expansion and new transit
center on Friday.
Construction for the new parking lot and
transit center will begin June 18, with aims
to be finished by fall 2019, when structures
for the expansion will be brought to the
campus.
A cerem ony w as held betw een the
DeJardin Hall and the parking lot, with
speeches by various prominent CCC faculty
and David Sprott, a CCC student, followed
by a ceremonial “ groundbreaking” with
golden shovels, perform ed by various
attendees and members of the expansion
teams, including CCC President Joanne
Truesdell.
The expansion is the third of four
building projects planned by CCC under
a $90 million bond measure passed by
Clackamas Com m unity College district
voters in 2014. An additional $32 million
was matched by the state of Oregon to
bond measure 3-447.
The fourth planned project is a student
services and co m m u n ity com m ons
bu ild in g, and is go in g on bid for
architectural services this summer, to be
completed in 2021.
The DeJardin Hall expansion w ill add
18,600 square feet to the existing building,
and will feature sixnew state-of-the-art
science labs for chemistry, biochemistry,
microbiology and anatomy classes.
“ The m ost im portant part [of the
project] is that w e w ill increase the
capacity,” said Ron Adams, am em ber of
CCC’ s Board of Education.
I “ W hat happens w hen you run into
our current process, students can’t get
through,” Adams said. “ They can’t get
the classes in the order that they would
like and they end up just sometimes not
even sticking around.”
The expansion will allow CCC to host an
additional 250 students.
Sixteen percent of students use public
tra n sp o rta tio n to g e t to CCC, said
Adams. The new transit center w ill be
able to accommodate 12 buses at a time,
and w ill double the current number of
parking spaces.
A grant of $1.76 million from the Oregon
Department of Transportation is funding
the new transit center and will go towards
a new path from CCC directly to the Oregon
City High School, as part of their Connect
Oregon program.
Clackamas Print
Mahlum A rch itects, inici group and
Lea se C ru tc h e r L ew is are h e a d in g
th e p ro jects.
“ Really, the project is just m eant to
speak to science andshowcase science,”
said Mark Butler, Project Executive for
Lease Crutcher Lewis.
“ We definitely w ant make sure that
science is on display for the students and
they have a new, 21st century science
facility,” Butler said.
Eden Francis, a chem istry instructor
and department chair, is excited for the
increased space for students to work.
Currently, CCC has one lab that serves
for general chemistry, organic chemistry,
allied health chem istry and, w ater and
environmental health classes ànd one lab
that serves as an open-lab tutorial center,
said Francis.
“We will actually be able to schedule labs
when students really need them,” Francis
said, “ and we will hopefully be able to offer
more labs because we won’t be trying to
cram so many labs into one room.”
Mahlum Architects worked closely with
CCC faculty, staff and students w hile
designing the expansion, spending two
days at CCC surveying students about what
they wanted to see.
Some of the student-surveyed features
incorporated into the design include more
study spaces, both open areas and private
rooms, locations close to classrooms and
faculty offices and natural lighting.
“ I hope that it is a very engaging space
that students feel welcome to be in, both
when they’re in class and to hang out, and
to study and that it provides a home for
our science and engineering students, and
for the faculty and staff that work here,”
Francis Said.
Interior displays like a full-size replica
beluga whale skeleton and a blown-up
model of cougar DNÀ will be featured in
the expansion.
M ahlum also w orked w ith staff on
details like room layout and student line-
of-site to make the labs safer, and the 18
new fume hoods will make Class activities
less crowded and dangerous.
“ It’s like building a house, but on a huge
scale,” Francis said. “ It’s been fascinating
to think about, and to think about how we
use our labs now, and what works, and
what doesn’t work and to be able to apply
that to a whole new start.”
Current and transferring CCC students
have shown lots of enthusiasm towards
The golden shovels awaiting use for the DeJardin groundbreaking event on
Friday.
the projects, said CCC biology instructor
Tory Blackwell, but some can’t help but
feel disappointed that they won’t be able
to use the new facilities in the fall.
CC C’ s STEM club is o fficia lly th e
largest student group on campus, and
Blackw ell said CCC’ s STEM students
drove the change.
“ That’ s how science w orks,” Blackwell
said. “ Science builds on the science
before it,”
Lori Hall, CCC’ s public inform ation
officer, is looking forward to students
being able to use the new labs and spaces.
“ I’m excited to see the new space and
how students interact,” Hall said, “ [and]
th e c la c k a m a s p rin t.n e t
the learning opportunities that w ill be
available in it.”
W ith construction starting, Butler
warned CCC students, staff and faculty
to be careful around the sites.
E igh ty -fiv e percent o f injuries in
construction zones happen to the public,
Butler said.,
“As you’re driving around this summer,
take extra precautions,” Butler said. “ Pay
attention so that you and your family and
the construction workers are safe.” C
The transit center is slated to be
operable this fall term, and CCC hopes
for the DeJardin expansion to be finished
by fall 2019.
June 6, 2018