A new horizon is just around the corner for many non-college-bound students with Wednesday’s update on a new vocational center at the former Mary Ann Garber Elementary School in East Chattanooga, and all that will be necessary is for them to seize it.
The Building and Construction Workforce Center will offer training in masonry, carpentry, welding and HVAC, and construction work at an outdoor site. The center will be a partnership among the state, city, county, school district, Chattanooga State Community College, Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce and Associated General Contractors of East Tennessee (AGC).
Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger told the county commission at its weekly meeting Wednesday the school should open by August 2022.
The school district currently offers vocational training at Sequoyah High School in the north part of the county, plus at some of its Future Ready Institutes, but their location makes it difficult for students who lack transportation.
“The world has changed,” Hamilton County Commissioner Warren Mackey told another news source Wednesday. “Once upon a time, everyone needed and wanted a college education. But what we’ve realized is that more technology, robots, and applications are taking jobs away, and the work coming around in America today is predicated on what can you do and what value do you bring to the company. If you can bring something of value, you have a future.”