PORT ANGELES — A ceremonial groundbreaking began the process of construction of a 41,650-square-foot, $25 million building for the Allied Health and Early Childhood Development Center at Peninsula College’s Port Angeles campus.
Board members and faculty from the nursing, medical assisting and early childhood development programs joined Peninsula College President Luke Robins on Tuesday to turn dirt in front of the construction site near the tennis courts southeast of Keegan Hall at the campus at 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
Construction is expected to take 18 months.
“We all want good nurses and medical assistants taking care of us,” Robins said, “and we expect our students to perform at high levels.
“The new facility will provide state-of-the-art classroom and clinical space for our popular nursing and medical assisting programs while giving us the opportunity to offer new, in-demand programs in the flexible classroom space.
“It will also provide us with a centralized location for all our Early Childhood Development Programs, including a new child care facility, early childhood education classroom and program offices.”
The structure will house the programs now operating in Buildings L and LE.
Building L, built in 1980, and LE, built in 1992, will be torn down after construction and replaced with landscaping.
The brief program Tuesday included remarks from Susan Lynch Ritchie, who launched the college’s Early Childhood Development Program in 1976.
She spoke of the positive impact that having well-trained students and children would have on the community.
First student
Ritchie also introduced her first student enrolled in the Early Childhood Development Program, Patrick Irwin, who was 3 at the time. Irwin is now a practicing attorney in Port Angeles.
Dr. Scott Kennedy, chief medical officer for Olympic Medical Center and Peninsula College alumnus, said OMC was proud to continue its partnership with the college and estimated that as many as three-quarters of the nurses at OMC are graduates of the Peninsula College nursing program.
“And they’re darn good,” he said.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge Erik Rohrer, who is chairman of the college board, thanked those who made the project possible and described the new facility as “critical to student success.”
Once completed, the building will feature smart classrooms, state-of-the-art learning labs, student gathering and study spaces, a child care facility and play yard, as well as faculty and staff offices.
For more information, contact Pattie Fischer at pfischer@pencol.edu or 360-417-6201.
