Around 100 students come through the workshop each school day.
Located at Logansport High School, the career center provides students with career pathways in advanced manufacturing, building and construction, engineering, science and technology, transportation, health science, criminal justice, art, media and communication, and education and training.
"Century Career Center is actually a great deal more than most realize," said career center assistant director Robert Iles. "We are high school, college and workplace all in one facility. Many think of our programs as being geared towards students planning to enter directly into the workforce after graduation, and I believe we do this well."
Mike McCord, who includes president of the Logansport Community School Corporation school board and the president of the Redevelopment Commission among his many titles, called the career center an incubator for community talent.
The career center is open to students from the Rochester School Corporation, Southeastern School Corporation, Eastern Pulaski School Corporation, Caston, Pioneer, Lewis Cass and Carroll.
"We seat nearly 1,600 students daily," Iles said. "Many of these schools offer career and technical education courses, but in today's age it is not feasible for everyone to offer all programs and pathways that are in demand. Century provides a great consolidation point that benefits students across Cass County and surrounding communities."
Recently the Century Career Center, and the many students within, received a boost from the Logansport Redevelopment Commission.
The RDC has approved and paid out $98,000 towards new equipment with a budget of $150,000 allocated for 2023.
The equipment has gone toward improving equipment for students within the advanced manufacturing, construction and automotive areas.
The partnership between the RDC and the career center came together thanks to Bill Cuppy, president of the Logansport-Cass County Chamber of Commerce, president of the Cass Logansport Economic Development Organization and vice president of the Logansport school board. He informed both groups that Indiana State Code allowed the RDC to allocate up to 15 percent of annual revenues to fund job-training programs at local school corporations.
Cuppy also wanted to see students training on equipment actually used within Cass County, not outdated equipment no longer relevant in the field.
McCord said that past students have left the career center and headed to the work site only to be unprepared to work with newer, state-of-the-art technology.
"Unfortunately, education drags behind innovation," said McCord. "It doesn't do any good if we train kids on machinery that is outdated."
Some of the new equipment that the career center students are benefiting from include a small engine lift, a drone for agriculture use, battery-powered tools for the construction pathway, temporary construction fencing, six new welders for the advanced manufacturing pathway and a new engine lathe for the machine trades pathway.
"When you start tallying it up, we provide over 20 career pathways through 80-plus courses which is an impressive offering in our community," Iles said. "Through partnerships with Ivy Tech Community College and Vincennes University, Century Career Center is able to offer many of these courses as dual credit. That means our students are earning college credit while in high school, without the cost. The 2022-23 school year has Century Career Center students earning over 3000 dual credits, an estimated savings of $1.2 million dollars. Century students are college students. Many of them continue on with additional schooling and enter college with significant progress towards the completion of an Associate's Degree, Industry Credential, or Bachelor's program.
McCord said the opportunities presented within the career center are life-changing for many of the students.
"We have roughly 67 percent free and reduced lunches so we have some economic issues here," McCord said. "The best way to break that cycle of poverty is to find a good paying job. Working hand in hand with the career center, these kids can be qualified to make really good money. There are some kids who can break the cycle of poverty in their family with this career path and go out and get a good paying job because there is a demand."
There is also a demand for classes within the career center.
"We have no problem filling our building-trades classes," said Iles. "In our intro classes we usually have a high request. Intro is not a requirement but it's nice to allow someone a chance to see before they dive in."
Welding is one of the most popular areas of study within the career center. Iles said it is common to tell up to 50 students to try again next year because classes fill up so quickly. It's a popular program across Indiana and for good reason. Welders are in high demand.
Brier Geisler, a recent Century Career Center graduate, said his time in the career center had been a great experience. He said he was more of a hands-on person and the career center gave him more opportunity to do things he enjoyed.
"I made a hammer (in precision machining) and I thought that was really cool because what other kid makes a hammer in school," Geisler said. "Auto class has been amazing because I can bring my car in and work on it and do oil changes and learn new things."
Of late, career center students have been making parts for Valley Tool, a company based in Wisconsin.
"We just started this process and we are trying to expand it now to more companies within (Logansport) and the community," said Iles. "The kids will have buy-in and can say they made that part for this company. They help support the kids and they are going to get them to be an employee."
Another new feature coming to the career center next year is a semi-permanent building that will be built just outside of the workshop. The building will be built from steel donated by Steinberger Construction, concrete from Shepler Construction and fencing provided by the RDC.
The 600-square-foot facility will give students more space to work during the school year and can be taken apart and stored for the summer.
"The ability to get the students ... working outside like you'd find in the job environment is a very beneficial one," said Iles.
McCord said one of the advantages of the shelter and the career center is that it alleviates the need to bus students to a site and back to the school.
"It really is a laboratory and a work-space opportunity where you save 50 minutes a day and the kids can have an education instead of being bused around," McCord said.
McCord said the career center's nursing program is a big inspiration for growing the industrial side of the school. Each school year, nearly 200 students leave with their Certified Nursing Assistant license and are eligible to work in nursing homes or hospitals.
"We don't always have that same feed out to the construction industry," he said.
"People like Steinberger, Shepler, they are dying to have employees," McCord said. "If we have the same kind of success in this area of study as we did with nursing, it could be a home run for Logansport."
©2023 the Pharos-Tribune (Logansport, Ind.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
