Big Bend Community College success rate increasing

Big Bend Community College has improved on the success rate of its students over the last couple years, boasted college President Terry Leas last week, speaking at a Rotary Club luncheon in Grand Coulee Wednesday.

Leas said a common state measurement for gauging a college’s success with student learning looks at the percentage of students getting a C average or greater. In the 2013-14 school year, 84 percent of BBCC’s student earned at least a C average in traditional classrooms, up steadily from 81 percent the year before, and 76 percent the year before that.

“It’s pretty extraordinary,” Leas said. “We like the trend.”

He said even factoring in students in “blended” programs, taking both traditional and online classes, 79 percent of students earned a 2.0 grade point average or higher.

Another indicator, Leas said, is on display in the form of a traveling trophy from the Northwest Athletic Conference. Big Bend’s athlete’s earned the first president’s cup, based on grade point averages and completed credits.

Leas hopes that such progress indicators will help in its quest to attract state money to a build a new 76,000-square-foot professional technical education center.

The school is first on the state’s current list for capital improvements for community colleges that the Legislature will consider in its next session. The state has not funded such an improvement for BBCC for more than 50 years. The school even now still uses some old structures left over from the closed Larson Air Force Base designed for other purposes.

Leas said the project would likely cost $32 million to $35 million, and would provide a better venue for the school’s expanding technical school offerings.

Vice President for Instruction and Student Services Bob Morbaucher said the school’s agriculture program is expanding, adding global positioning system components to an agricultural business program that syncs with Washington State University’s bachelor’s and master’s degree programs.

He said as part of the college’s aviation maintenance degree program, the school has added a carbon fiber certificate.

“We’re looking at, when we get that new building open, making that a stand-alone degree in composites and materials science,” Morbaucher said.

A Moses Lake plant that produces carbon fiber for use in car bodies is adding production capacity.

“It’s really a growing field, and so we’re trying to expand along with it,” he said.

Another upcoming possibility is a degree in supply chain management, which several local industries have said would be useful.