Photo from left to right: John Skudstad, Noah Peoples, lan Waldburger, Annaliese Williams, Phil Waggoner, Dominic Herrera, Dianne Spires, Tonie Kellom, Daymond Monteith, Keith Brown, Damien Garcia, Marcus Woods, Issac Evans, Mindi Waggoner, Damien Jones, Mark Wendt, Cecelia Amuchastegui, Wendy Clark and Moses Vermaas.
A groundbreaking took place at EagleRidge High School this week. Monday was the beginning of something new as EagleRidge announced its next steps for the future in a new 5,000 square foot building to house a Career and Technical Education program at the high school.
EagleRidge is a high school sponsored by Klamath Falls City Schools. All EagleRidge Board of Directors were in attendance for the groundbreaking, including KFCS Superintendent Keith A. Brown and Director of Operations, Daymond Monteith, as well as EagleRidge students and staff.
“Working together, we were able to obtain some ESSER funds. We could not have the ESSER funds if we did not have the city schools … to build a building to expand programs,” EagleRidge School Board Vice Chair, Cecelia Amuchastegui, said.
Amuchastegui was KFCS Superintendent from 2004-2010. The new space will be located behind the school, just off Plum Avenue.
The new building will replace a space across the street on Commercial Street, which EagleRidge currently rents and holds classes.
Amuchastegui mentioned several phases to take place during the building’s construction, which is expected to be completed in time for the 2024-2025 school year. The first phase will be fundraising to go toward the new space, which will be two separate buildings to support EagleRidge’s Construction Pre-Apprenticeship Program, along with its Business Management and Digital Media programs.
“We will continue to fundraise. The money we have been putting to rent our facility (building on Commercial Street) will go toward the new building,” Amuchastegui said. “EagleRidge is designed for 200-220 students, and that is our hope to have that many students. This new edition will expand programs and provide more opportunities for students.”
EagleRidge School Board Vice Chair, Cecelia Amuchastegui, shares floor plans for a new building to be made at EagleRidge High School this past Wednesday, Jan. 3 at EagleRidge High School.
Mark Wendt will be the contractor and Kinsman Construction is the subcontractor for the new building. Adkins Engineering and Surveying also has been a partner to EagleRidge.
EagleRidge students will be seeing first-hand how the new building will be built as under the instruction of Dominic Herrera, will assist in how the building will be built.
“The students will be learning from the ground up. There are certain things they can and cannot do but they will be helping. EagleRidge is a project-based high school. There will be a lot put into the project, including mezzanine, which the students will all see and experience,” Amuchastegui said.
Under Herrera’s class, students at EagleRidge have the opportunity to transition what they learn in high school to college if they decide to attend Klamath Community College.
“I would say 60 percent of my students would like to go into construction once they are done with school,” Herrera said. “We are a pre-apprenticeship program for KCC’s apprenticeship program. By the time they graduate this program, they are automatically enrolled in KCC’s apprenticeship program, if they would like to be.”