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Becky Whitmer, a counselor for students at the Hillyard Tech Center, speaks Wednesday at the center. She has insights on the center’s planned expansion.
Students work on a welding project in 2021 at the Hillyard Technical Center.
Becky Whitmer, a counselor for students at the Hillyard Tech Center, speaks Wednesday at the center. She has insights on the center’s planned expansion.
Students work on a welding project in 2021 at the Hillyard Technical Center.
After work finishes on the more than 22,000-square-foot expansion of the St. Joseph School District’s training center for the skilled trades, space will exist for new subjects of learning, and more students in each one.
Currently, the resources on hand are not sufficient to meet demand both on behalf of prospective students and would-be employers. According to counselor Becky Whitmer, a total of 471 high schoolers applied for a slot at the Hillyard Technical Center for the 2022-2023 school year. Of these, 362 were accepted, leaving about 110 on the waitlist. District leaders aim to reduce the waitlist, both for entry into Hillyard and enrollment in specific high-demand courses, such as welding. As part of the more than $5 million expansion project, the welding program will double in size, with a capacity for up to 100 students, with a welding laboratory that can accommodate about half of that number at any one time.
At least one more welding instructor will be hired. There is currently one, Sean Edwards, and a maximum lab capacity of 26, roughly half of the welding enrollment in any given semester, Edwards said. The expansion also will introduce new areas, like a diesel technology lab sponsored by Altec Inc.
“This will allow us to reach more kids, those kids who just barely missed the cut,” he said. “We can kind of shrink that number up. And that lets us get more in-depth on some stuff. When you have two instructors, you can kind of specialize more, you can start to simulate more of the manufacturing-type atmosphere. That makes them more workplace-ready.”
Ground is to be broken on the expansion by the end of this year, with a tentative opening date of January 2024. Today and throughout the expansion, HTC standards will be maintained. Students from one of the 21 “sending institutions” must attend at least 90% of their scheduled classroom hours, maintain a C-average or better and avoid incidents of misbehavior, among other criteria. The sending institutions are the three SJSD high schools, the Webster Learning Center, several high schools in other public school districts, and a handful of private institutions like Bishop LeBlond High School. All home-schoolers are grouped as the 21st “sending institution.”
Whitmer, the Hillyard counselor, said students apply in their sophomore year for classes, in either morning or afternoon sessions for which they are bused from their sending institution as needed. It falls to the students to manage the technical studies they are engaged in at the technical center, their core coursework back home and any extracurricular activities. The staff is there to help, but either way, it’s common for the kids to have little free time.
“I ask my kids all the time, is it worth it coming here? And they’re like, ‘Oh, yes, absolutely.’ Because they like that we’re different from their ordinary high school classes,” Whitmer said. “We offer them a different opportunity that the schools can’t necessarily offer.”
Kole Wells, a senior who attends the Hillyard from King City R-I in Gentry County, explained the opportunity that is most commonly sought by students: A career right out of high school and the money that comes with it. Those who complete one of the industry internships on offer during their time at Hillyard can gain employment worth at least $20 to $30 per hour, perhaps even more. Any certifications needed are typically earned before they graduate.
Wells, who volunteers as a student ambassador to show the younger students the ropes at Hillyard, said the planned expansion will have a considerable impact.
“You can have twice as many kids learning,” he said. “Like in welding. There’s a lot of jobs out there in the field, so if we get twice as many kids coming through here, we’ll have twice as many people who end up knowing how to do it. They’re going to fill a lot of those job openings.”
Whitmer said Hillyard is equally dedicated to setting kids up for good scholarships and the like, should they choose to continue studying at a college, university or advanced trade school, rather than immediately enter the workforce.
“And we have college credits through all of our programs,” Whitmer said. “It’s not necessarily one or the other, college or the workforce. It’s really the student’s needs and goals of all kinds that we try to support.”
Edwards explained how by creating more opportunities for study, the need for a waitlist will be reduced, which is important because students can only wait so long. Having applied to Hillyard as sophomores, they are prompted to continue studying as normal juniors while they wait. They’ll get a slot if someone drops out or changes their mind about what they want to study. Edwards’ welding program is designed to train juniors in Welding I and seniors in Welding II. The longer they wait, the less time is on hand before graduation to get them through it, so the expansion will help that out greatly.
“Some kids don’t get that opportunity and they probably want it or need it,” he said. “It’d be great to get some more people in here, get them trained up, and get more of the jobs filled locally.”
Marcus Clem can be reached at marcus.clem@newspressnow.com. Follow him on Twitter: @NPNowClem
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