SEQUIM — Marylaura Ramponi, one half of the namesake behind The Ramponi Center for Technical Excellence, got to learn about some of the groundwork being done that will help determine where Sequim School District’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) building might go.
Ramponi pledged $1 million in July 2024 to the project, and she gave a $500,000 check in October 2024 and another on March 28 on her 89th birthday for the facility in honor of her late husband, Louie, a TV salesman and real estate investor.
“I think it’s fantastic,” Ramponi said about the project from Hendrickson Field, north of Sequim High School. “I’m glad it’s finally happening.”
She and friend Jan Olts, a retired teacher, met consultants involved in the project on Dec. 15.
The Ramponi Center for Technical Excellence will consist of a 10,000-square-foot building with classroom space and two large open bays for industrial grade training on site for automotive and construction, according to district staff.
Sequim School District was awarded nearly $5 million from state legislators in the 2024 supplemental budget for the phased project. It was initially imagined as a $15 million to $17.5 million facility.
Sequim School District superintendent Regan Nickels said Ramponi’s donation served as seed money to help with initial project costs as they await the state funding.
Ramponi previously said her husband valued vocational work, and after his death in 2013, she wanted to help students going into different trades, so she connected with her friend and financial advisor Phil Castell, who helped her develop trade school scholarships along with the $1 million donation.
“I wouldn’t have given it to them if I didn’t trust them,” she said.
The district’s preliminary planning documents state that the CTE Building will be substantially complete by February 2028.
A remodel of the neighboring high school’s A, B, C, D and E buildings with instructional wings that connect all buildings to create a secure campus is tentatively scheduled to be substantially complete by July 2029.
It’s part of the 20-year, $146 million construction bond that voters approved in February. However, the CTE building is not tied financially to bond funds.
The school district took the high school and CTE projects and received unanimous approval from the state’s Project Review Committee (PRC) on Dec. 4 to go forward with selecting a general contractor/construction manager (GC/CM).
Nickels said they did that to ensure they’re following the right procedure to keep funds separate for the projects while doing them in tandem to save funds.
She said the geotechnical work being done now at most of the district’s campuses, including Hendrickson Field, will help the district know if certain areas can be built upon.
Mike Santos, the district’s facilities director, said they should have a clearer picture of soil types and conditions of the properties by April. He said documents are unavailable for the district’s last geotechnical report, but he estimates staff last inspected the district’s properties in the mid-1990s for the construction of Sequim Middle School.
Sequim School District’s board of directors approved on Dec. 1 an approximate $123,000 contract with Certerra Northwest for geotechnical services, and an approximate $157,000 contract with PACE Engineers for boundary and topographic surveys of the district’s properties.
Two days later, they approved an approximate $5.2 million contract with Mahlum, an architecture firm from Seattle, for design services for the new high school and CTE buildings. A board decision on a general contractor/contract manager on those projects is anticipated sometime in February.
A different architectural and design team could be chosen for different projects related to the bond because they will be completed separately, Santos said.
The bond package will fund SHS’ new buildings, a new Helen Haller Elementary school, new transportation center, upgrade the multi-sport athletic field, a new cafeteria and bus loop/parking lot at Greywolf Elementary School along with improvements to its HVAC system, a new bus loop between Fir Street and Sequim Middle School, and upgrade safety and security systems at the middle school, Greywolf and Olympic Peninsula Academy.
Representatives from Mahlum, The Wenaha Group, the district’s construction management firm for the bond package, Jamestown Excavating, which donated an excavator for the geotechnical work, and district staff were on hand to meet Ramponi on Dec. 15.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com. Nash has family employed by and enrolled in Sequim School District.
