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Residents in the Copper Country are getting the opportunity to see their education tax dollars at work. Last summer, voters passed a millage to renovate classrooms and add more Career & Technical Education programs for the Copper Country Intermediate School District. The CTE Center hosted its open house, giving folks a chance to see what that millage went to.
If you’re a high school student in the Copper Country and still undecided about your future career choice, programs like those offered at the Career Tech Center are here to help you figure that out and obtain some new hands-on skills. The CCISD has been offering vocational training for quite some time, but thanks to the strong support of its community, the district has been able open up more classes.
“All the classrooms are renovated. New here upstairs is Construction Technology and new down here is our welding manufacturing course,” said, Welding instructor Tim Stites.
Many students participate in programs like health training that teaches students emergency techniques, such as CPR and how to read vitals. Right down the hall is Construction Technology where students will be building a livable tiny house. The goal is to complete that by the end of the school year, when it will be auctioned off with the proceeds benefiting the education program.
After voters passed the millage last year, district administrators went a few steps further and secured additional funding that provided more resources for the students. Stites said, “Shawn Kolbus and George Stockero did a really good job of getting a grant that helps build this program up from just being the ten welding booths and ten welders that may have only been what we were going to get to begin this.”
That grant came from the Michigan Department of Education and provided an additional $364,000, allowing the district to purchase more state of the art equipment. ‘Top of the line ventilation—their health is important. Keep the smoke away from them. The ten welding booths over in the corner, they have a CNC plasma table cutting out some projects for some people to take home with them tonight,” said Stites.
High school students who live within the Intermediate school district and would like to enroll are encouraged to inquire with their current student counselor.
Stites said, “I just want to thank the community for helping support this and a lot of the local manufacturers had a huge input on us getting the grant to do this and building it up to what it is today.”
