After one year since the groundbreaking, the facility that will house education programs in Manufacturing Technologies, Construction Trades, Health Care, and Information Technologies has opened. Students have already been attending classes in satellite locations around Forest City, but can now utilize the John V. Hanson Career Center and its resources.
The educational hub is spearheaded by North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC) and will accept students from North Iowa, Forest City, Lake Mills, and Garner Hayfield Ventura Community School Districts. It also has numerous partnerships with the area communities involved.
NIACC President Steven Schulz was very excited to open this one of a kind facility in northern Iowa and is hoping for great things from it. He addressed the crowd that had gathered at the Boman Fine Arts Center at Waldorf University on the importance of the facility and its programs.
One of the numerous partnerships involved is Winnebago Industries. President of Winnebago Outdoors Huw Bower told the assembled crowd that Winnebago Industries looks forward to the trained workforce to come out of the career center in the near future.
North Iowa Community School District Superintendent Joe Erickson expressed his excitement over the facility and programs that are available.
Erickson also expressed the importance of the students getting a collegiate level experience.
His counterpart with the Forest City Community School District, Darwin Lehmann told the crowd how important he felt the center would be.
He quantified his thoughts by looking at the statistics for employment growth in the four areas of discipline taught at the center.
The center is expected to help fill part of those needs.
