Meyer Health and Science expands to meet growing demand

North Idaho College – Thursday was the day of the long awaited ribbon cutting ceremony and open house for both the Dental offices in Winton Hall, as well as the Meyer Health and Science building.  Since first opening to students in the fall of 2005, the building has been home to world class facilities, which are there to help train the next generation of Biologists, Chemists, Geologists, Nurses, Doctors, Technicians, and more.

Initial talk of the expansion began around the same time the doors first opened in the fall semester of 2005.  While the building added an additional 25% increase in general classrooms on campus, it was still not enough for what was, and is seen as needed for present and future students.

The expansion was initially approved by the BoT in November of 2018, yet was postponed in April of 2020 due to the Pandemic.  Local Contractors submitted their bids in February and early March.  During a special BoT meeting on March 15, 2021, staff presented four contractor bids they received, ranging from $7.6 Million to $7.8 Million.  The board voted unanimously for the bid submitted by Leone & Kibble Inc. totaling $7,603,800.  The board also tacked on an additional $650,000, which was to include bid increases and lab equipment.

While the Pandemic initially halted the groundbreaking process, that process would finally begin during the Spring semester of 2021.  Roughly 2 years behind schedule, the open house provided students and community members an opportunity to check out the newly expanded building.

The road to the open house was a long one.  The construction tended to hinder students’ learning, and teachers’ teaching.  When asked about the effects of the construction on the quality of teaching and learning, Lab Manager David Abshere weighed in. “It’s been very, very disruptive,” he said. “We have had a huge contamination issue because it’s a construction zone.”

While asking individuals and community members their views on what the Meyer Health & Science expansion will add to NIC and the surrounding community, we attempted to interview the only “outsider” candidate that we were able to find after 6PM – Mr.Hartman.  Hartman declined to comment, and told our student reporter to “go away”.

NIC President Nick Swayne was enthusiastic to answer a couple of questions regarding what the expansion will bring to NIC.  “This is a world class facility,” he said. “I’ve been in many universities around the country and to have a facility like this at a community college is just crazy, I mean, it’s incredible.  Everyone is amazed at what we have here, being able to bring this into Coeur d’ Alene is incredible.”

When asked how the newly expanded facility will benefit both the students as well as the community at large, Swayne states that, “We’re able to increase our number of students that can participate in the program, so all of our health sciences can grow now,” he said.  “In most places, the facility is the limiting factor; you can only fit so many people in – thats no longer the limiting factor for us.”

Swayne went on to point out that the college has waiting lists for many of the science programs.  Swayne expresses that the expansion helps to open up more opportunities for students to “get into the profession that they want to get into.”  When speaking on how the expansion will effect the community at large, Swayne replies, “I’m not sure about Northwest Speciality, but I know Kootenai Health has a shortage of about 200 nurses, and so we need to be able to produce more nurses.”  “We’re not keeping up with the demand, so that helps the community and the students across the board”.

Responding to whether or not the upcoming election would effect the new expansion, Swayne is quoted as saying, “Thats hard to tell.”  “My role as president is to be the buffer between the board and the institution; to be well run, meets accreditation, and all those things.” “Regardless of who wins, my role doesn’t change, so what happens inside the school shouldn’t change – shouldn’t.”

Regarding increasing faculty numbers, Swayne states that, “our enrollment has been declining, and I think a lot of that is because we haven’t been getting out into the community and sharing what we are doing.”  “One of the reasons for this open house is to share that we’re still here, we’re doing great things.” “Getting that word out is so important.” “We’re starting a new marketing program to let people know since we have so many new people in the community.” Swayne goes on to state that the reason he believes is attributed to this decline in enrollment is that most of those in charge of getting the word out to potential students, (like principals, guidance counselors, and even superintendents) are new to the community and to the area.

“I think we’re an exceptional community college.” “I’ve been to some that are kind of like meh, blah; this is an exceptional school, and making sure that people know that – I think we’ll be okay.

There was a raffle towards the end of the evening, with each of the four winners receiving a gift basket.  Our apologies, as the only name we heard was “Luke”.