Idaho man donates to district

La Grande High School’s new Career Technical Education building will be larger than originally anticipated thanks to a man with a big vision for LHS students and a bigger heart.

Rob Roberts, president of R&M Steel Co. in Caldwell, Idaho, is donating the primary materials for the new building, materials worth at least $100,000. Roberts’ donation means that now the classroom building will be 14,500 square feet, 5,000 more than originally anticipated. The addition will help the CTE program reach greater heights, said LHS Assistant Principal Scott Carpenter.

“This is huge,” Carpenter said.

Roberts was saluted by Carpenter and others in the La Grande School District Thursday at a program recognizing the development of LHS’s career technical education program. Roberts was presented with a plaque honoring him for his donation during the event.

Roberts made an offer of his donation about six months ago to Chris Panike, the La Grande School District’s business manager and plant operations director, during a phone conversation. Panike, who knew Roberts because he has been consulting him for advice on the building project, did a double take when Roberts offered to make his donation.

“It was not until I heard him say ‘donation’ a second time that I knew for sure,” said Panike, who presented Roberts with his plaque.

Roberts said his company is stepping forward to help LHS because it is impressed with the steps it is taking to develop CTE programs with the help of money from a $31.85 million bond voters approved in 2014. Roberts said this will lead to many good things at LHS — namely students who will graduate with skills in fields like welding and health, skills which will help them become quickly employed.

“(The CTE program the building will house) will provide students with the opportunity to go out and get high paying jobs,” Roberts said.

Roberts is not a newcomer to giving. Since 2008 Roberts said the company has made 20 major donations to school districts and schools. The La Grande donation is the only one Roberts’ company has made outside the state of Idaho.

Roberts’ donations reflect his sincere desire to reach out to others, said his wife, Nancy.

“He grabbed a vision. He really wanted to help,” Nancy Roberts said.

Roberts’ many donations have not gone unnoticed by people in the construction field.

“To me, he is a legend,” said Brian Leisten, the project estimator for CM Company in Boise, Idaho, the general contractor for the school district’s bond project work.

The CTE building at LHS will feature a state-of the art welding lab, a biomedical program classroom, a business computer lab and a mechatronics program, which blends mechanics, electronics and engineering.

It will replace the school’s aging CTE building, which will be torn down later this summer. Demolition will start after the removal of hazardous material, including asbestos. Work on asbestos abatement is now underway.

Construction of the new building will start in the latter part of the summer. The new building is set to be completed before the second semester starts in January, Panike said.

Contact Dick Mason at 541-786-5386 or dmason@lagrandeobserver.com. Follow Dick on Twitter @lgoMason.