Photos by Ava Kitzi and L.G. Patterson
The Columbia Area Career Center, which is a part of the Columbia Public School District offering hands-on, personalized Career and Technical Education programs for a variety of ages, is renovating and expanding to increase access to programs and courses for students in the Columbia community.
In 2022, voters approved the Career Center project which provides funding for the $15-million addition to the trade school. That long-awaited dream officially became reality during the groundbreaking ceremony at the Columbia Area Career Center on June 18. “It went from concept to approval from the community that we are extremely grateful for,” says Dr. Brandon Russell, the director of CTE. “It has been a struggle because we are living in a construction zone, but it’s just really exciting. We are going into this school year knowing next year we will have a brand new, modern, updated facility and we just can’t wait.”
Russell says the expansion, which started with a demolition of 20,000 square feet, to then replace it with 10,000-15,000 square feet, will update most of the classroom instructional spaces to reflect more of the real world. “This update lets us get closer to that with our fiscal space,” he says. It also creates better functionality throughout the school for classes under one umbrella. “All of our health-related programs will all be in the same area before they were spread throughout the building,” he says. “It gives the opportunity for students in multiple classes and related pathways to connect.”
Creating more connections is just one of the main goals for this expansion. “The fiscal building is adding spaces throughout the building to allow students to connect,” Russell says. “There will be lots of small rooms that they can access, there will be makers spaces, there will be lots of spaces throughout the hallways where students can meet and collaborate.” The central part of the building will also allow for “the old and the new to come together,” which Russell says will be a major improvement.
While a big portion of this expansion is on student connection, Russell says they also wanted to focus on bringing more professionals into the facility. This includes a new conference space for industry professionals to meet with students. “We are really excited about that opportunity to create those connections between students and the professionals in our community.”
The expansion will also bring new student enterprise spaces or small retail spaces, including a coffee shop, café and one flex space for anyone in the community to use. “Maybe there is someone in the community who has started a new business and needs a test market, but we also want the flexibility to use it for special events,” Russell says.
There are so many possibilities coming from this expansion, and Russell can’t wait for it to truly be the reality for the Columbia community. But none of this would be possible without the incredible teachers. “The teachers and staff have been amazing, it has been tough to teach and be in a construction zone, but they have been so flexible during this time,” he says. “We couldn’t be here today in this progress on this project without their flexibility and participation, we are certainly grateful for them.”
The hope is for this expansion project to be completed, and have the community immersed in the celebration by fall 2025
