Salish Kootenai College evolves to meet the 21st century

By Alyssa Kelly

SKC's new gymnasium is slated to be ready by next year; here, the face is taking shape. (Alyssa Kelly photo)

PABLO — "It's important for the Indian youth and our tribe to have their own college. It allows our people to be forward reaching leaders. Education will be the strength of our people in the 21st century," says Salish and Kootenai College president Joe McDonald.

Curiosity peaks as onlookers see the progress being made with the construction site on the SKC campus. The new additions being created include a new gymnasium, a state-of-the-art auditorium, a new Information Technology building, and a housing unit for single-student dorms. "The renovations being made at SKC are going to change the whole reservation," says "Butch" Burland, SKC Construction Manager. "A lot more people are going to want to get their education here. It's definitely going to put Pablo on the map."

Gymnasium:
"The idea for the gymnasium has been something in the plans since the beginning of the college (1977). An architect implemented it in the original floor planning of the campus; we just never had the money. Now, through the efforts of congress, we have the opportunity to build it," says McDonald.

The gym's spacious interior (below) will serve many purposes besides hosting basketball games. (Alyssa Kelly photo)

The new gymnasium is so large, there are several resources offered through the new facility. Some examples are a walking track, several basketball courts, an abundance of seating, and a large kitchen/lobby area.

The basketball court meets the regulation of two college courts. There are several electronically operated hoops on all angles for both long and half court games. Should there be a need for it, an electronically operated curtain will be added to serve as a divider. There is seating for 2300 people and the bleachers come from all angles. Although the gym is two stories, there is an additional level for a walking track. It gives a sky view of the entire building.

The new gym entrance will welcome the throngs of Bison Team fans. (Alyssa Kelly photo)

Resources will be offered for the comfort of visitors. Aside from the stairs, there will be an elevator for the use of visitors that have a harder time getting around. There will be large restroom facilities as well as four locker rooms. The locker rooms have showers, drying areas and of course, lockers. "There was a need for four locker rooms because there will be several sporting events and tournaments hosted here," says Burland.

"We have goals in Life Long Learning for the fitness courses offered at SKC. Currently there is hiking, backpacking, rafting, bowling, weight training, and golf. There isn't really anything offered indoors. The new gym will allow us to offer courses like volleyball and basketball," says McDonald. The gymnasium will be the first of the expansion to be finished. They are estimating it will be ready for operation by next year.

SKC's new dorms will feature four rooms; ten of these units are being built. (Alyssa Kelly photo)

"We currently have 56 to 58 apartments for families at student housing. There's really a need for single student homes and depending how the response is to the dorms, we may build more should the demand exceed. To build the dorms we used federal money through the Interior of Appropriations Committee and we're very thankful for it," says McDonald.

The 16,000 square feet floor space, forty-bed dormitories are making progress in construction. They will be neighboring the current student housing home site. The rooms will be divided in ten suites; each suite will have four rooms.

There will be two entrances to each suite. One will lead to the hallway of the entire dorm while the other will lead to a miniature private patio. In the center of each suite will be a built in entertainment center for the living room and a kitchen equipped with appliances. Surrounding the center living area will be four bedrooms, two on each side. Connecting each bedroom will be restrooms complete with showers.

There will be a public laundry area for the use of all residents as well as a recreation area. In the recreation area, there will be a pool table, furniture for relaxation, and entertainment including a television. There will be an outdoor entrance to the recreation area as well as a public restroom.

On each end of the dorm there will be live-in supervisors that will monitor the activity. "We don't know how it will be set up as far as whether it will co-ed or females on one end and males on the other," says Burland.

Auditorium:
"From Polson on South there has never been an on-campus theatre on the reservation. Through the new auditorium and theatre, we hope to expand on the creative aspect of learning through speech and drama. The new auditorium will be small but it will be state-of-the-art. It will serve the whole community and other schools like Two Eagle will have access," says McDonald.

Frames for the new auditorium are can be seen standing to the gymnasium. (Alyssa Kelly photos)

The future SKC auditorium located near the fitness center/gymnasium is still in the beginning process of laying the foundation. There will be a state-of-the-art theatre with electronic curtains and excellent sound quality. There will be several seating resources and the artistic architecture of the overall building will compliment the SKC campus nicely. There will be Native design incorporated throughout the building including the stone siding. "It will be really great to see what the students can do with the facility with performances," says Burland.

Information Technology:
The demand for IT related courses is growing at SKC and now, so is the classroom facilities. "There is currently an IT facility in the Michelle building, but it is scattered and spread out. It's not large enough for the students anymore. Through the new facility that will be located in the Charlo building, we will be giving them classroom space and bring everyone together. The labs will serve the students taking online courses and this fall there will be a BA degree in Computer Engineering added to the SKC roster. It will leave us a lot of free space for other things," says McDonald.

The future of SKC is seemingly limitless. The growth will give the tribal college several advantages including more education opportunities. "It's been an amazing growth that I didn't imagine in the beginning," says McDonald. "Really its all a result of the need. I think we'll have facilities for everything we want to do. We don't want the surrounding community to grow too fast and affect other resources, but it's really exciting. The growth has been inspiring to everyone who works here. Other than Haskell and Turtle Mountain, I don't know of any other tribal colleges that have the facilities that we will."