News
Brunkow to assist in the Old Main project
Scott Wagar
04/02/2013
Dakota College at Bottineau’s Old Main Committee has taken a step forward in the rehabilitation of the structure to create more space for its students to be educated in and to assist the community in its needs.
“Dave Brunkow is a consultant we have worked with on a number of occasions to help us with special projects. The best examples are the football program and the addition to Thatcher Hall fundraisers. For football, Dave helped us raise the seed money to get the program started, and for the addition to Thatcher Hall, he helped us raise money for furniture and equipment for the new building. Both activities were very successful,” said Dr. Ken Grosz, dean of students at Dakota College at Bottineau. “In regard to the Old Main project, we are again seeking Dave’s help to raise funds that can be used to employ an individual on a full time basis whose responsibility will be to coordinate and manage all of the work that needs to be done to re-purpose and reuse the structure.
“This task will involve planning the use of the new structure as well as focusing on identifying the funding sources required to resurrect Old Main into a modern, state-of-the-art educational facility,” Grosz added. “The college has a need for additional classroom, offices, assembly space and utilizing the historic and iconic Old Main building for this purpose makes sense. The project, directed by an Old Main Committee, is not so much a “Save Old Main” effort as it is an effort to provide DCB with the tools they need to continue providing a quality education in a quality environment. We have asked Mr. Brunkow to assist us in bringing this concept and vision to fruition.”
Hiring Brunkow is not the first phase of the rehabilitation of Old Main. According to Grosz, the Old Main Committee considers this the first step to the first phase of the project.
“The feeling of the committee is that the project will have to be done in phases,” Grosz said. “The committee’s consensus is that the first step to beginning the phase in work is to employ an Old Main coordinator who can dedicate sufficient time to the project to keep the committee active and to keep moving with next steps. The outreach needed to make this project successful necessitates a person willing to make the time commitment required. Mr. Brunkow and the Old Main Committee will be engaged in finding the resources to hire a coordinator.”
Grosz stated that the most likely first phase will be to rework and rehabilitate Old Main’s basement.
“By doing this it is bolstering an already solid base in order to give the building another century of usefulness,” Grosz stated.
Outside of Brunkow work on Dakota College at Bottineau’s campus, he is no stranger to the Bottineau area.
“Dave Brunkow is very knowledgeable about the customs and culture of the Turtle Mountain area,” Grosz said. “He owns a home in the Lake Metigoshe area, has done a great deal of consulting work in the area, and in the earlier part of his career, was employed at Metigoshe Ministries.”
Grosz is pleased to have Brunkow.
“We are pleased to be working with a proven professional like Dave Brunkow. He brings a familiarity with the area and a knowledge of DCB that can only help the Old Main project succeed,” Grosz said. “We are hopeful that by employing a full time manager for the Old Main project we can bring greater visibility to the project which in turn will allow the committee to begin to show results.”
Brunkow and his company, GSB Associates, are a mission minded company which works with non-profit and charitable organizations throughout the country. GPS has offices in Sioux Falls, Minneapolis and West Palm Beach and has completed successful work with over 300 clients in a variety of capacities since 1976.