Well, TransAlta has done it once again! It has generously pledged a $1.3 million grant to Centralia College. TransAlta has done more to bless this community and surrounding areas than any single person or organization in our history.
The last venture by TransAlta for Centralia College was the recent commons facility. This was a major addition to the college campus. The current donation is slated for a future flexible technology building.
Without a doubt, vocational technology is a very worthwhile part of any college curriculum. However, for all the good that has been done by TransAlta and Centralia College, they have let us down in one very important area — humanities, specifically the arts. Centralia College abolished a very fine art department years ago. Apparently, there was never any intention of reinstating this popular offering.
The arts bring out the creative best in all who view, listen to or partake in them. It can touch us in ways that cannot be easily measured. It brings out the best of humanity within us and gives us a way to interpret and understand life as we know it. The arts are ingrained in all of us, throughout our life stages. Kids thrive in it, and adults may partake for life. Fortunately, some even make art a lifetime vocation.
Thankfully, due to the hard work of a few fine K-12 teachers in our area, the arts have been kept alive. Somewhere, along the way, though, our collective artistic flame dims or barely flickers. Perhaps this is due to what is, or isn’t, offered though our formative years within our education systems. If a high school student excels in art, the question then becomes, “Where do they go from here?”
The logical choice would be to step up to a two- or four-year college to continue their studies in arts. This is difficult in this area, since any additional offering is extremely limited. The closest visual arts offering is 30 to 35 miles away — a distance that is prohibitive to many.
My question is: Will the arts ever return to Centralia College? I am told not in my lifetime. Sadly, despite the campus beautification and additions, there is still no plan for Centralia College to bring back the arts.
They are lacking a very important and real academic educational offering. All the technology in the world does not make a better or more complete person. The old saying surely applies here: “Man does not live by bread alone!”
Question: Will Centralia College ever correct this sad oversight? So far, it doesn’t appear that they will, and our community will be the less for it.
Jim Stafford
Chehalis
