It was almost like the opening of a hit movie Friday when the ribbon was cut and the spectacular new entrance foyer to the College of the Rockies (COTR) was opened to rave reviews.

"Isn't this absolutely magnificent," said COTR President and CEO Nick Rubidge. "Just look at this room. It's phenomenal . . . It's something to behold. I'm not sure there's anything like this in all of the Kootenays," said former COTR Board Chairman Troy Sebastian. "Wow," said current COTR Board Chairman Alex Rogers.

At least 200 people, including COTR staff and students as well as invited guests and the general public crowded into the new south entrance foyer with its soaring, curved, wooden beams, tepee-shaped fireplace and spacious interior designed by KMBR Architects Planners Inc.

The new foyer is designed like a "main street" providing a "one stop shop" atrium for student services and then flowing into the rest of the college providing a vibrant student culture. It also includes the main reception area, wireless computer stations, registration and admissions services, financial aid and assistant registrar's offices, and student and public seating.

The floor level underneath the entrance foyer will have space for seven new classrooms and faculty offices. The new classrooms will enable University of Victoria education students to move out of the portables they're now in and provide more space for other students. 

In all, the newly completed $12.74 million project, which finished several months ahead of schedule in March, will provide COTR with 11,000 sq. feet of additional space. The two-storey, glass enclosed structure gives the college a proper entrance for the first time in its history, and along with several other expansions and upgrades in recent years, means College of the Rockies takes a back seat to nobody, said Rubidge.

Kootenay East MLA Bill Bennett said COTR is a major economic driver of the region and acts as a "linchpin" for the local economy. "It's something we can all be proud of in the territory." There is no reason for local students to leave the area for post-secondary education "when we have this calibre of education right in our own backyard," Bennett said.

Kootenay-Columbia MP Jim Abbott said the soaring architecture of the foyer strikes the right note. "It's grand, yet it's modest. Somehow it's achieved a balance of all these things. . . . and it's so emblematic of who we are."

Cranbrook Mayor Scott Manjak a former COTR trades student himself, said the foyer project and other recent additions to the college contribute to the spirit of reconciliation going on between the college, the community as a whole and the Ktunaxa Nation on whose land the college sits.

"The first time I saw it, I was overwhelmed by it," said Manjak of the entrance foyer. "This (an expanded college" is an opportunity for us to keep our children here."

The College of the Rockies, then known as East Kootenay Community College, was established in 1975 and has since grown to six campuses at Cranbrook, Kimberley, Invermere, Golden, Fernie and Creston. The college started its first degree granting program of its own this fall, a Bachelor of Business Degree in sustainable business practices while also providing degrees in education and nursing in partnership with other universities.

Current enrolment at COTR stands at 1,696 full time students, up eight per cent from last year.