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Just in time for the opening of fall semester classes Aug. 23, workers put the finishing touches on the new Skilled Trades Center at Terra Community College.
“We’ve watched the new building literally rise from the ground up over the past year and we’re anxious now for our students to experience the state-of-the-art labs and latest technology that the Skilled Trades Center offers,” said Lisa Jozwiak, Vice President of Academic Affairs.
The Skilled Trades Center is approximately 23,225 square feet at a total cost of about $3.5 million. Funding for the project was a combination of state and local funds.
The building is home to the heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC), welding and power technologies labs and the Terra Truck Driving Academy. There are also faculty and staff offices, five classrooms – four with Smart Board technology – and a student lounge.
Steve Bender and Tim Roth, both faculty in the HVAC program, have been on site to help with equipment location. They are excited to get started with classes.
“For the most part, students will see all new equipment including some of the newest hybrid systems out there,” Roth said.
The HVAC program has a traditional two-year degree component and a Fast Track class that can be completed in 18 months. Both tracks can accommodate 18 students and are full for fall semester.
“A lot of our students are middle-aged guys who are retraining due to factories closing or downsizing,” Bender said. “They choose HVAC because it’s the fastest growing occupation by far in the U.S.”
Roth added, “There is a big demand and we are trying our best to fill the need.”
John Carpenter’s students will also see brand new equipment – valued at more than $400,000.
“About 90 percent of everything is Snap-on Tools’ equipment, and it’s all the most state-of-the-art available today,” said Carpenter, an adjunct faculty member in power technologies. “Snap-on is the sponsor our new lab, which will be the Snap-on Automotive Center.”
There will be roll tool boxes for each team of students as well as four tool boxes that include one of every diagnostic tool that Snap-on makes.
“It’s impressive,” Carpenter said.
Students will learn their craft using the “biggest, best and newest” machines for such skills as alignment, wheel balancing and tire changing, according to Carpenter.
They will also have laptops with diagnostic software which can be taken right to the vehicles on which they are working. The entire Skilled Trades Center has wireless Internet.
By this time next year, the college hopes to become a Snap-on Certified Diagnostic Training Center, one of only 18 in the country. It will mean more classes, both credit and non-credit, and nationwide recognition as a leader in automotive training.
Bill McCleese and Dave Mitchell, the welding faculty at Terra, will be teaching in the new 1,900-square foot Omar Meyer Welding Lab, complete with 12 welding booths, an additional grinding room, a cylinder storage room for welding gases, and the welding faculty office.
The families of Rod Belden and Craig Wood, as well as company employees, wanted to honor the founder of the O. E. Meyer Company and did so by making a five-year finance pledge to the college. Those naming rights are proudly symbolized by the brand new signage at the entry of the lab.
“Not only do we have four 2008 model welding power sources from the old building, but we now have eight brand new, 2010, state-of-the-art welding power sources, including the most advanced welding systems from Miller Electric and Lincoln for pipe welding,” McCleese said.
Other new equipment includes an 85-ton capacity Scotchman ironworker, a Watts pipe beveling machine and a Hypertherm 1250 plasma arc power supply with handheld plasma torch. A Universal Testing Machine, used for weld testing and welding certification testing, is being refurbished.
McCleese said the new lab will just strengthen Terra’s reputation in the area.
“Terra’s welding program is very well known by business and industry throughout Northwest Ohio,” he said. “We have operated a state certified Welding and Brazing Testing Laboratory since 1980. And we offer qualifications and certifications in several other related areas.”
Combined, McCleese and Mitchell have more than 75 years of diversified welding experience. Both also do non-credit industrial training through Terra’s Kern Center for Community and Industrial Development.
This is the first new building on the Terra campus since the Early Learning Center opened in 1997. The Grand Opening will be Oct. 8 beginning at 11 a.m.
Tool boxes, stocked with Snap-on diagnostic scan tools, stand ready for students who will begin classes at Terra August 23.
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