After the deluge

FVCC students restore Smith Lake access

The Daily Inter Lake

Earning credit at Flathead Valley Community College is no day at the lake unless you enroll in the heavy equipment operators program.

Students recently exchanged boats for excavators and other heavy equipment to participate in a project to restore Smith Lake's fishing access, which flooded last spring. Beginning in June, these operators-in-training excavated and finished the access roadway as well as the parking lot.

For student Annette Jandron, the project had special meaning. She has frequented the lake since she was in high school.

"People will appreciate the changes," she said, according to a press release. "Especially since the area will not flood in the spring anymore."

As part of the project, Jandron and other operators completed a number of renovations such as leveling and graveling camp sites, laying concrete pads under picnic tables and setting barrier rocks to border roads and parking areas.

Another student, Evan Rindal felt equally proud of the work at Smith Lake.

"It was a lot of hands-on work and it was a lot of fun," he said, according to the press release.

Bill Roope, division chairman for career and technical programs said that hands-on describes the point of the Smith Lake renovation participation.

"Real-life projects provide our students with a comprehensive training opportunity that could not be duplicated in a lab setting," he said in the release.

Smith Lake represents one of a number of projects for nonprofit organizations completed by students since the community college received a grant last year from the Legislature for heavy equipment for the program.

Previous projects completed include: a two-mile road, parking lot, sewer and water lines at the Boy Scout Grizzly Base Camp; the road and campground at the Fish, Wildlife and Parks Old Steel Bridge in Kalispell; a driveway for the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation; and new ball fields at Lakeside Elementary School.

According to Roope, the program has scheduled additional work at Boy Scout Grizzly Base Camp and new project at Evergreen ball fields and Thompson Lake.

Beginning this week, high-school-student operators, enrolled through the college's Running Start program, started excavating and leveling the area for the Flathead High School Vocational-Agriculture Center.

Students also will build the roadway connecting the current facility to the new location and demolish some of the old buildings.

For each of these projects, the college supplies the equipment and student labor, and the beneficiary of the work supplies fuel, oil, materials, equipment repairs and a safety officer.

People enrolling in the heavy-equipment-operator program include high-school students in Running Start and older, nontraditional students seeking a second career. Students can complete courses in one year to earn a Heavy Equipment Operator Certificate of Applied Science.

Since 2003, the program has placed 100 percent of its students.

"Some of our students do not finish the program, because they find it hard to turn down good-paying jobs that are waiting for them," Roope said.