The largest award, $12.7 million, went to the Upper Valley Career Tech Center in Piqua.
Upper Valley CTC Superintendent Jason Haak said the additional space will allow the school to accommodate about 170 more students. Currently, the career center has about 1,100 students on campus and will be able to accept about 600 of about 900 applicants next year, he said.
“We seem to continue to have record numbers of students applying to come here every year,” Haack said.
Other schools said space is an issue to serve all students interested in career tech. Fairmont High School in Kettering has an agreement with Centerville and Oakwood to provide career technology and has been awarded approximately $2.8 million to expand its engineering and advanced manufacturing programs.
Jensen said the funding will go toward creating an engineering lab and advanced manufacturing program.
Jensen said about half of Fairmont’s juniors and seniors participate in the Career Tech program. She said it wasn’t because of a lack of interest, but rather a lack of space, with about 70 percent of the class applying.
“What I mean is that we bring all kinds of kids under the rainbow, from honors students to kids who potentially would have dropped out if they hadn’t seen the value of their education in career technology. Go,” Jensen said. “And you will always see improvement when you understand how studying English, math, science, and social studies applies to your chosen career.”
The Greene County Career Center received $405,000 from the same grant to continue its expansion. In 2020, the Career Center completed a $70 million, 272,000 square foot campus in Xenia. Voters approved paying 1.03 million yen in taxes over 20 years to pay for the new facility.
The Greene County Career Center expansion in 2020 was part of several regional expansion efforts using funds not from the current state budget. The Miami Valley Career Tech Center is nearing the end of his five-year, $158 million, 600,000 square foot renovation project. State funds and local taxes starting in 2017 are funding the project.
Huber Heights received $8.5 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds to build a new career center focused on construction, welding and HVAC pathways. The program is funded and staffed by his MVCTC.
