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Former names | Centralia Junior College |
|---|---|
| Type | Publiccommunity college |
| Established | 1925[1] |
| Endowment | $7.8 million[2] |
| President | Robert Mohrbacher[3] |
Administrative staff | 212 |
| Students | 4,840 (2024–2025)[3] |
| Location | ,, United States 46°42′57″N122°57′34″W / 46.71595°N 122.95944°W /46.71595; -122.95944 |
| Nickname | Trailblazers |
Sporting affiliations | Northwest Athletic Conference |
| Mascot | Blazer Bill |
| Website | www |
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Centralia College is apubliccommunity college inCentralia, Washington. Although it primarily offers certificates andAssociate degrees, it also offers a fewBachelor's degrees. Founded in 1925, Centralia is the oldest continuously operating community college in the state ofWashington.[1] The college sits on 29 acres (120,000 m2) in the middle of the town of Centralia. There is a branch education center, Centralia College East, in the town ofMorton and the college offers a range of online and correspondence courses. Overall, the college serves an area of 2,409 square miles (6,240 km2) inLewis County and southernThurston County under the administrative classification of Community College District Twelve.
Centralia College opened on September 14, 1925, as theCentralia Junior College as part of an agreement between theUniversity of Washington,Centralia Public Schools, and the Centralia School Board.[4] It was the firstjunior college to open in the state and preceded theWashington Community and Technical Colleges system.[5] The college received itsaccreditation from theNorthwest Commission on Colleges and Universities in 1948.[6] The first physical campus opened in 1950 with Kemp Hall.[7] Growing from an entrance class of 15 students, as of 2009[update] the college has an enrollment of 4,803 students in 64 academic programs.[8] The college is affiliated with the private Centralia College Foundation, founded in 1982 by community members, to supplement its public resources.
The college is also home to Michael Spafford'sThe Twelve Labors of Hercules, a series of murals commissioned in the early 1980s for the House of Representatives' chambers.[9] From 1982 to 1987 they were covered with curtains due to their perceived (by some) sexually suggestive nature and later were placed in storage. Following a decade of negotiations, the college acquired the murals in 2002 for display in the Corbet Theatre.[10][11] Murals created byAlden Mason and originally displayed at the Capitol were moved to the college library in 1990.[12][13]
In 2012 the college began offering aBachelor of Applied Science in Applied Management degree. It now offers a Bachelor of Applied Science in Diesel Technology degree and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Information Science and Application Development degree.
Student enrollment during the 2008–2009 year was recorded at 4,803 students[8] and reached a peak of 8,532 during the 2009–2010 semesters. Registration declined slowly in the ensuing decade, with between 6,000 and 7,000 students listed for the 2019–2020 period. The next school year, during theCOVID-19 pandemic, enrollment decreased to around 4,200 students. As of the 2024–2025 school year, 4,840 people were registered students at the college.[3]
The college's 2024–2025 report lists 53% of the student population to be 25 years old or younger, with over 49% being of Latino heritage. Low-income students comprise 49% of the campus's enrollees and approximately 600 high school students are attending classes as part ofRunning Start. Over 57% re-enrolled from the following school year. The college's three-year completion rate was reported at 37%.[3]
In 2023, the college, in partnership with Collegiate Housing International (CHI), completed an off-campusstudent apartment complex providing affordable accommodations for students in part due to the ongoinghousing crisis. The dormitory complex can house up to 110 students. With an occupancy of 8 people per living quarters, each unit shares a common room and is pre-furnished.[14] The following year, the complex was begun to be used as limited and temporary housing for Centralia high school students who are homeless. The project, named Scholars Haven, enrolls the students into the college's Running Start program.[15]
The campus contains several murals including works byAlden Mason and Robert Calvo. The mural collection,Twelve Labors of Hercules, by the artist William Spafford that was created in the 1980s for theWashington State Capitol but removed due to complaints, resides at the college.[16] A mural in Washington Hall featuresMerce Cunningham, a dancer and choreographer from Centralia.[17]
The college's mascot is the Trailblazer and the athletics program includes teams for women's volleyball, men's baseball, men's and women's basketball, women's fast pitch softball and women's golf. These teams play in theNorthwest Athletic Conference (NWAC).[18]
The college is home to a sports complex known as Bob Peters Field. The site, begun in 1999 through the purchasing of neighborhood lots, was declared completed in 2023 after an officialgroundbreaking the prior year. The complex was named after the college's athletic director, the longest serving director in Washington state history. The athletic compound is 4.0 acres (1.6 ha) and hosts fields for baseball, softball, and soccer. Student fees of over $3 million were used for the construction of the complex.[19]
The college's Kirk Library was once the site of Noble Field, named after Elmer Noble, a Centralia High School graduate andWorld War I hero who died in action. The field temporarily contained an observation tower where volunteers, especially high school students, could spot incoming Japanese fighter planes duringWorld War II. The tower was situated on top of the grandstand's press booth which contained a direct phone line to theFort Lewis Command Center and was outfitted withblackout curtains. The grandstand was removed in 1971.[20]
Guest columnist from President of Centralia College
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