Bellingham Technical College is hosting an open house at its recently opened Perry Center for Fisheries and Aquaculture Sciences from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 17. The Perry Center is located at 1600 C St., in Bellingham’s Maritime Heritage Park.
The open house will feature student-led tours of the facility’s hatchery, labs and classrooms. Visitors will also be able to view the interpretive center, which features exhibits on the life cycle of salmon, shellfish species, as well as a “students in action” display.
The Perry Center opened in time for fall classes in September 2013. The 8,000-square-foot facility serves as a new home for BTC’s fisheries and aquaculture sciences program, which the college has operated for 33 years. The program’s previous facility , a former sewage treatment center, was structurally compromised and nearly half the size of the Perry Center.
The BTC Foundation secured a $2 million matching state allocation to fund construction of the Perry Center, and a subsequent fundraising campaign has so far brought in an estimated $1.4 million. Contributions are still being accepted (The BTC Foundation is online at www.btcfound.org.).
The Perry Center was built by Roosendaal-Honcoop Construction of Bellingham and designed by HKP Architects of Mount Vernon. It received its name from fundraising contributor Chuck Bundrant, owner of Trident Seafoods, who named the building in honor of his friends and colleagues, Edd and Virginia Perry.
