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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Then and Now: Spokane Technical and Vocational School

1960: Student Dennis Cornella, 18, sits in his wheelchair on the front steps at Spokane Technical and Vocational School at 3403 E. Mission Ave. After losing both legs in a farming accident in 1958, Cornella enrolled in the watchmaking program at the school, which would become Spokane Community College in 1963. The twin Community Colleges of Spokane, SCC and Spokane Falls Community College, grew out of the demand for job training and college degree programs after World War II. (Spokesman-Review photo archives)
1960: Student Dennis Cornella, 18, sits in his wheelchair on the front steps at Spokane Technical and Vocational School at 3403 E. Mission Ave. After losing both legs in a farming accident in 1958, Cornella enrolled in the watchmaking program at the school, which would become Spokane Community College in 1963. The twin Community Colleges of Spokane, SCC and Spokane Falls Community College, grew out of the demand for job training and college degree programs after World War II. (Spokesman-Review photo archives)
By Jesse Tinsley jesset@spokesman.com(509) 459-5378

After World War II, Washington state expanded opportunities in job training and college degree programs.

Spokane Trade School opened in July 1940 with a $70,000 state grant. Fifteen hundred students signed up that year, including 300 service members training for jobs in the war effort.

The Spokane school organized the classes at various sites with programs in carpentry, welding, machining, radio repair, plumbing and electrical work. Students were mostly men.

The school added nursing classes in 1947, backed by local hospitals, which had previously run their own nursing schools.

The training program was renamed Spokane Technical and Vocational School in 1954. Its new campus opened at 3403 E. Mission Ave. in 1958.

In 1960, Dennis Cornella, 18, enrolled in the school’s watch making program. In 1958, the 15-year-old Cornella had been baling hay on the family farm near Sandpoint when the hay baler jammed and he tried to kick at the obstruction. He was pulled into the machine and both of his legs were severed. He was pulled from the machine by another teen and rushed to the hospital barely surviving the trauma.

Spokane newspaper columnist Dorothy Powers appealed to readers to help the Cornella family pay for a wheelchair, rehabilitation treatment and vocational training. Thousands of cards, letters and gifts poured in with several thousand dollars in donations.

Cornella married, had children and still lives near Sandpoint.

In 1963, the college on Mission Avenue and another at the former Fort George Wright were designated as state junior colleges, starting several years of new construction.

In 1970, the two campuses became separate colleges, managed by a state board. In the 1980s, the two schools combined under the name Community Colleges of Spokane.

In 1987, the director of the state community college system, John Terrey, summed up what the colleges offer. “They’re the last opportunity for many people. They’re for single mothers, laid-off loggers, the poor, late bloomers, immigrants trying to get a start in this country.”

According to the Community Colleges of Spokane website, the two colleges serve more than 20,000 students each year in college degree or career technical certification while others work on their GED diplomas, learn English, take job-related classes or study for personal enrichment.