New State-of-the-Art CTE Center Buzzing with Student Activity

Welding. Designing. Building. Making.  

Students are buzzing with activity in Fremont Public School’s (FPS) gleaming new, $9.5M state-of-the-art Career and Technical Education Center (CTE). The innovative facility, which swung open its doors in 2024, operates with a solid vision: groom the up and coming “Toolbelt Generation” for rewarding careers in the trades.

As the Greater Fremont Development Council (GFDC) recognizes February’s Career and Technical Education Month, it’s also celebrating the way the CTE center is creating a pipeline of talented students to service local industries.

Forging Their Own Path

According to a recent article by the Wall Street Journal, the shifting interest from white to blue-collar jobs is being attributed to disenchantment with the soaring cost of a traditional college education and lackluster starting salaries within traditional fields of business.

According to Education Data, the national student loan debt has ballooned to over $1.7 trillion, with the average college graduate being saddled with $106,850. And Sallie Mae stated that students can expect to pay an average of $36,436/year for college, almost double the $17,600/year for attending trade school.

“As you look at the opportunities in skilled trade areas over the past ten years and into the foreseeable future, employers need individuals with skills joined with the aptitude and attitude to work hard and continue to be challenged,” said FPS Superintendent Mark Shepard. “The areas of welding, automotive, diesel, automation/robotics, computer design/manufacturing, construction and health occupations are all areas which allow individuals to expand and grow in their craft as far as they want to. We used to talk about many of these areas as ‘jobs.’ Today they position a student for a career with the opportunity for upward mobility. These areas are challenging and rewarding and pay well, leading to long-term job satisfaction.”

A ribbon cutting ceremony in fall 2024 marked the opening of the 39,000 sq.ft. facility, designed by BVH Architecture and constructed by Hausmann Construction, which boasted six labs that immediately began humming. Students can take advantage of on-site training, offered in collaboration with Metropolitan Community College, that spans seven career fields: welding, auto tech and diesel tech, construction tech, health sciences, computer-aided design, and mechatronics. The dual-enrollment classes also give students the ability to earn college credits while still in high school. Classes are taught by both FHS and MCC instructors.

A Vision in the Making

A vision started unfolding for a full scale CTE facility on the heels of FPS’ wildly successful welding program that graduated between 25 and 30 metalworkers annually over a nine year period. So launched a strategic planning collaboration between GFDC, FPS, Fremont Area Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce. The consortium also initiated meetings with local business owners to identify the wants and needs for businesses and how FPS students could fill the gap.

“The Nebraska Department of Labor has identified long-term employment opportunities in H3 careers, jobs that are in high demand, offer high pay and require high skill for employment,” said Todd Hansen, MCC Associate Vice President for Workforce Education. “By increasing the number of students leaving high school with education and training in H3 fields like automotive technology, advanced manufacturing, diesel technology, health sciences, robotics and welding/metal fabrication, individuals gain access to careers that play an important role in economic development and offer growth opportunities.”  

School visionaries also escorted groups of industry leaders to CTE facilities across the state in Columbus, Grand Island, Fairfield-Sandy Creek, Lincoln and Omaha to get expert feedback on those designs and how the FPS facility could follow suit.

It Takes a Village

The CTE was financed by the community via a voter-approved $9.5 million bond issue as well as two Developing Youth Talent Initiative grants from the Nebraska Department of Economic Development.

Over 50 area businesses and individuals including Robert J. Daugherty Foundation, Dale Olson, Methodist Fremont Health, Hausmann Construction, RVR Bank, J. Skinner Bakeries, G-Force Heating, Wiese Plumbing, C. R. Menn Concrete, Arps Red-E-Mix, Fremont Electric, Lincoln Premium Poultry,  Christensen Lumber, Fremont Beef Company , Lozier Corporation, and Structural Component Systems generously committed to over $2 million in cash and in-kind donations over the next five years to bolster the center’s sustainability fund, covering operating expenses and equipment upgrades.

“The future of their workforce and meeting the challenges presented by an aging workforce and more skilled positions to fill creates a win-win-win for our students, local industry and our community,” said Shepard. “Keeping High Wage, High Skill, High Demand jobs and future employees in our local workforce and community.”  

For more information about Fremont’s new, innovative CTE center, click here!