Community Tours Killeen ISD's New Career Center
June 26, 2012
Texas Workforce official tours new Career Center By Chris McGuinness
Killeen Daily Herald
The Killeen
Independent School District welcomed one of the first visitors to its
new Career Center Monday, as it prepares to complete the facility for
use during the 2012-13 school year.
District officials gave Tom
Pauken, one of three commissioners sitting on the Texas Workforce
Commission, a tour of the 142,000-square-foot facility at 1322
Stagecoach Road.
"You all have done a really great job," said
Pauken, who also visited Temple College and Central Texas College during
his trip Monday. "It's very impressive."
While construction
crews continued to work on the building, Pauken was able to visit
several of the center's labs and classrooms, which will serve high
school students, mostly seniors and juniors, looking to earn and credits
and professional certifications in nine career "clusters" including
health science, information technology, agriculture, food and natural
resources; arts, audio/visual technology and communications;
transportation, distribution and logistics; architecture and
construction; law, public safety, corrections and security; and
manufacturing and human services.
Max Cleaver, the district's
executive director of facilities services, said the center has 61
teaching spaces, including 33 regular classrooms, four fully equipped
science labs, 13 computer labs, a lecture hall and 10 "specialty" labs
for specific programs.
Those specialty labs included an
information technology lab, which will be used to teach students how to
put together a computer, and features removable floor tiles so they will
be able to learn how to wire them into a network.
Another was a
health sciences medical lab, which will be outfitted with 10 patient
beds to allow students to practice in simulated situations.
Pauken
also was shown construction, welding and automotive workshops, all of
which the district plans to outfit with technology and equipment that
meets current industry standards.
"I feel like (the district)
really listened to what we needed and gave us the equipment and space to
prepare these kids for their careers," said LaMisha Stinson, an
instructor for the district's cosmetology program. "It gives them the
confidence to know that they will be able to work at a professional
level."
Stinson, along with other cosmetology instructors and
students, were busy unpacking equipment in their lab, which features
styling stations, sinks and hair dryer chairs, and other professional
equipment.
"It's very exciting," said Joseph Taylor, a
cosmetology student who will attend the center as a junior next year.
"These are the tools we need to complete our training, and it will give a
us a heads-up when we graduate."
Pauken said facilities like the
center won't just provide students with training, but also will provide
employers with skilled laborers in the area of vocational trades.
"These
are trades with an aging workforce. For example, the average age of a
master plumber is 56 years old," he said. "These industries are looking
for people coming out of school with the right certifications, training
and knowledge."
Pauken said education facilities like the
district's career center were an important step in providing vocational
training for students looking for an alternative to college, or who want
to work and attend some form of higher education when they graduate.
"We
need to focus and strengthen these programs," he said. "There used to
be a pipeline into these industries that funneled skilled students into
these jobs, but we've neglected that and the pipeline is drying up."
The
construction of the center was part of a $26 million facilities project
that included the construction of the adjacent Pathways campus, which
opened in August 2011.
Speaking Monday, Cleaver said the
facility's construction is on track and it is still scheduled to open
for the 2012-13 school year. Approximately 950 students have enrolled at
the center.
