Dorm gives FVCC new recruitment tool
Wednesday evening marked the newest milestone for Flathead Valley Community College, with the ribbon-cutting ceremony and official opening of Founders Hall.
This 74-room, on-campus student housing option is a welcome addition to the expanding campus. Affordable housing is hard to come by in the Flathead Valley — more so all the time — which is a burden especially felt by students, whose classes may limit their abilities to work. The new housing offers an important option for students who want to come to campus to learn — including those who might want to come from out of the area.
The completion and opening of Founders Hall is also a nice capstone for FVCC this year, being the institution’s 50th anniversary year. When the first classes began 50 years ago, sessions were held at different venues and spaces around town. Hard to believe, when considering the scope of the current campus.
Expansion and growth at our local college benefits students of all ages, current and future — and making education more affordable and accessible provides benefits for the whole community to enjoy for years to come.
Best of luck to all FVCC students who are beginning the fall semester Monday!
Outdoors Fest
The outdoor industry’s impact on the state economy was on full display Tuesday at The Last Best Outdoors Fest in Columbia Falls, and boy was it impressive.
New numbers released during a panel discussion before the event show that outdoor recreation contributes more than $7 billion and 21,000 jobs to the Montana economy. While other industries have fallen over the last five years, outdoor recreation continues to grow at a significant pace.
Local business owners at Tuesday’s event also touted the “competitive advantage” Montana’s open spaces provide in recruiting top-level employees to the state. Polls show that quality of life is important to the millennial generation of workers, and our access to public land, rivers and snow-covered slopes gives local employers significant leverage in hiring.
We support U.S. Sen. Jon Tester’s new plan to highlight the outdoor industry’s economic advantages by establishing an outdoor recreation advisory committee in the Interior Department — $7 billion in economic impact and 21,000 jobs are worth fighting for.