It will be O.K. to corral kids at the JPCC

It seemed everyone at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Boys and Girls Club had a personal interest in being there. Jan Oliva had been a teacher at that site when it was Lewis Junior High. As a child, Mayor Royce Pollard learned to box (“but not well,” he admits) at a Boys and Girls Club. Governor Christine Gregoire coached basketball at a Boys and Girls Club when her daughters were young. Every adult there wanted to help the children of this community.

The Boys and Girls Club addition at the Jim Parsley Community Center (JPCC) will be called the O.K. Clubhouse, named after Jan and Steve Oliva and Lee and Connie Kearney, initial contributors to the project. Lower level rooms within the Club will be named for Steve and Jo Marie Hansen, Leslie Durst, John and Lois Tennant, Ed and Dollie Lynch, Gary and Christine Rood, Ron and Terry Prill, Helen Wright, and Carol Opatrny. Upper level rooms for teens will be named for Kiewit Pacific, Columbia Vista Corporation, and Hidden Charitable Trust. All supported the project, which is expected to be ready in March.

“This expansion of the Jim Parsley Center is about the power of partnerships,” said Superintendent Steve Webb. “It’s also about a legacy of leadership. Dr. Parsley and George and Carolyn Propstra had the foresight and ambition to create a thriving community and education center here in one of Vancouver’s most diverse and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. Since 2001, the Parsley Center has opened its doors to thousands of people—children, youth, adults and seniors.”

Mayor Pollard praised the project. “Successful children mean that our community will prosper in the future,” he said.

Governor Gregoire had stopped in Vancouver on her way to Washington, D.C., to meet with President Barack Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, where a scheduled topic of discussion was the “Race to the Top” program for education. “You are at the top here,” she said at the groundbreaking. “You value education; you value your students. Keep it up in these tough economic times,” she urged. “In Vancouver, you have great education, you have great jobs, and most of all you have great community spirit.”

During the ceremony, nearly 100 elementary kids sat patiently on the ground. They had a personal interest in being there, too. They learned about the new art studio, the game room, the library, the science room, the technology lab, the café, and the teen center—all the fabulous after-school spaces and activities that will soon be theirs to enjoy.

9/2009