CGCC's New Dormitory filling up
Student Frank Tetro and Resident Advisor Gabe Eldredge.
By Tom Peterson
Twenty-three-year-old Gabe Eldredge said the halls were a bit lonely when he moved into the new dormitory on the Columbia Gorge Community College campus in The Dalles last year.
Not anymore.
The $14 million project to build the dorm and skills center is now serving up STEM degrees and a solid place to live since opening in 2021.
The dorms, a project put together with Google funds and support from The City of The Dalles and Wasco County, is now housing 32 students.
The maximum capacity of the hall is 50.
Eldredge said it was fun to see students gathering for meals in the kitchen and hanging out, stirring the pot on that second year of housing culture.
“We’re getting a lot of transfers and students with associate degrees,” said Tiffany Prince CGCC Director of Housing and Student Life. “The majority of our students living in the dorm are not from Hood River or Wasco County. They come from Goldendale, White Salmon, Camas…”
“I talked to a gal today about living in the dorm,” she said. “She is attending winter term, and she does not want to drive the Gorge in the wintertime.”
Interested in living in the dormitory? Reach Prince at (541) 506-6013, Cell (509) 942-9924.
Skill Center driving demand
Housing demand has also been boosted as STEM students seek training at the college’s new Skills Center.
Eldredge, who split his time between Roosevelt, Utah and Port Angeles, Washington before moving to The Dalles is now the Resident Advisor to students living at Chinook Hall. At the same time, he is working toward his 2-year applied science degree in Electro-Mechanical Technology.
He is currently learning about electrical components, designing circuits and doing some programming.
And there are field trips.
Gabe Eldredge said he was able to climb a wind turbine at an Avangrid wind turbine site in Sherman County recently as the company provides some field training and recruits future employees.
“We were out with Avangrid last week,” he said of the company that has wind turbines in Sherman County. “They took out 20 students… they had us climbing the towers.”
Eldredge said the company also handed out job applications.
Eldredge is just one of many students taking advantage of the new Skills Center that was built at the same time the dorm was constructed.
Welding, HVAC, Construction, Fabrication, and Aviation are part of the curriculum offerings.
Companies are thirsty for students with the right skill set.
For example, Eldredge said recruiters from the local business community such as Overwatch Imaging, a tech company located in Hood River, Bonneville Power Administration, Intel, and Hewlett Packard are all looking for employees and are pressing the flesh on campus.
Eldredge also took advantage of an internship with Hewlett-Packard last summer.
As Eldredge sat in the front lounge of Chinook Hall, Frank Tetro walked through the front door of the dorm.
Tetro, 19, of Camas said he is in his first year of the aviation program.
“It’s been good,” he said. “We’ve been learning a lot from books right now but there will be more hands-on.”
He said they recently got to take apart an aileron or flap on a wing that changes roll.
“I feel comfortable here,” he said of living in the dorm. “I am meeting a lot of new people. It’s nice here.”
How this opportunity was created
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Early in 2019, the college secured financing from community partners – the City of The Dalles and Wasco County – to match a $7.3 million Oregon Legislative appropriation to construct a workforce training skills center on The Dalles Campus. The city’s and county’s direct contribution derive from their fiscal agreement with Google’s data center in The Dalles. Meanwhile, the Port of The Dalles provided a $1.5 million low-interest loan.
No local tax measure was needed.
