Career and Technology Center finds its community niche

It's a place area businesses turn to when they need employees trained in the latest technology and equipment.

It's a place community members turn to for launching a new career, learning to speak Spanish or creating floral bouquets.

It's a place where high school students can find a career path and participate in hands-on learning.

More than 20 years after it first opened, the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center has found an important niche in the community.

With the 1999 construction of a new, $11 million facility at 1080 Silver Springs Road, the school now offers nearly 100 classes, ranging from computer networking and auto collision technology to licensed practical nurse and ballroom dancing.

"Traditional vocational education is dirty. Welding, auto body, agriculture," said Rich Payne, CTC director. "We still do those things, and we do a great job, but the school has expanded so much."

'One of the best-kept secrets'

The shovel used to break ground at the new building site on April 18, 1999, stands in a corner of Payne's office at the CTC. Framed posters bearing the words "possibilities," "teamwork" and "perseverance" decorate his walls and serve as a reminder of the school's goal: Providing highly trained employees for the region.

"It's one of the best-kept secrets around," Payne said. "I never knew what took place in this building until I actually came here. A lot of people don't know."

CTC programs are broken down into three categories: Secondary, post-secondary and community education/customized training.

Secondary programs are offered to high school students from 10 schools in Cape Girardeau, Scott, Stoddard and Bollinger counties. Those schools pay tuition for students to attend.

Post-secondary classes are aimed at career betterment and job training -- everything from medical insurance billing and desktop publishing to general welding and industrial electricity. Businesses will often provide financial assistance to employees who take classes related to their jobs.

The community education and customized training classes are those offered for personal enrichment, like basic yoga and intermediate crochet, and those requested by local employers, like customer service retraining to refresh employees' skills in a certain area.

'It's very intense'

Those participating in either the post-secondary or community education classes must have a high school diploma or GED. The programs are tough, students say. Most classes are three hours, five days a week.

"It's very intense," said Katy Sander, a CTC student who recently graduated and is preparing to take her national test to become a paramedic. "It's required a lot of studying, and I've worked hard."

With 120,000 square feet, the CTC houses a multipurpose room that seats 400 people and an interactive television facility.

The school's marketing students operate a retail store that sells snacks, medical scrubs and student supplies. The lab for health program students has fully equipped hospital beds with life-size plastic dummies.

Computer classes are equipped with the latest technology. The culinary arts kitchen is filled with gleaming stainless steel and industrial food service equipment.

"We have to operate with the latest technology or they'll be behind in the work world," Payne said.

The CTC is funded with state and federal dollars, as well as local tuition from the area schools that send students there.

Like community colleges, the CTC can accept any post-secondary scholarships or grants. The school's semesters are similar to that of a typical college -- a fall and spring session with one- or two-year program offerings.

The CTC has an articulation agreement with Mineral Area College that allows students to earn up to 36 college credit hours at the technical schools that can go toward an associate's degree from MAC.

Two of the CTC's programs, industrial maintenance and respiratory therapy, are part of an associate's degree program at MAC.

The school also offers a two-week workplace readiness course for people trying to rejoin the work force.

The course helps those people with interviewing skills, resume development, customer service and other skills needed to obtain, and sustain, employment.

"For the most part, employers can tell whether someone is going to fit in after their first day on the job," said Dean Whitlow, assistant director at the CTC. "This class helps people prepare for that first day with the skills any local employer would look for."

Full classrooms

All of the CTC's classrooms are full. Programs like respiratory therapy, which had 49 slots available for the coming year and more than 300 applicants, have people waiting to get in.

"It's a very good program. Our graduates make up more than 75 percent of the therapists within a 50-mile radius," said Ken Pfau, a graduate of the first respiratory therapy class offered at the Cape Girardeau vocational school and who has taught at CTC for the past 18 years.

"In 12 months, we can train students for a career," Pfau said. "We're providing a great service to the community."

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128