Collinsville vocational center to receive $25 million

By Devese “Dee” Ursery
[email protected]

Collinsville Area Vocational Center will soon be getting a new look, as $25 million has been allocated for improvements. 

Although a scheduled time for the start and competition of the project has yet to be determined, district officials did say the project would take several years to finish. Once the project begins, work schedules will be offset to allow classes to continue while additional space is added and renovations will follow. 

Ultimately, the expansion will be a multi-year phased project that will lead to the construction and renovation of two career and technical education facilities.

Funds were allocated by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity for the reconstruction of CAVC, to add room for more students interested in learning vocational skills. CAVC is one of 24 vocational centers in Illinois and has a regional impact that serves 10 different high schools in the surrounding districts. 

State Rep. Katie Stuart recommended Collinsville Community Unit School District 10 receive the $25 million allotment from the state of Illinois for the expansion and renovation to the Collinsville Area Vocational Center. 

“I felt that it is such an important regional asset and that the state should be investing more in career and technical education opportunities for students, so I made it a priority of mine to advocate for the appropriation in the budget,” Stuart said.

Stuart said the variety of courses offered at the center meets a lot of the needs of the local workforce and gives students the ability to try out lots of different careers. 

“Having students prepared for a high paying job or for direct entry into an apprenticeship sets them up for a successful future after high school,” Stuart said

Stuart said there are vocational programs and schools across the state, but funding for these types of programs haven’t been a  priority for a couple of decades. She said high school graduates were persuaded to pursue two year and four-year degree programs instead. 

“At the same time, we keep seeing a need for skilled trades people, and new business needs, like cyber security and clean energy generation, have arisen,” Stuart said. “Programs like the ones at CAVC provide an additional pathway beyond that degree and can meet those pressing workforce needs.”

CAVC Director Joe McGinnis said the expansion was necessary to attract and serve more students interested in pursuing careers in the trades of health care, culinary, education and criminal justice. McGinnis also said the center prepares them for the workforce, technical school and/or post secondary institution.

“For the past two years we have had to turn away over 100 students each year due to space constraints,” McGinnis said. “This project is an important on-ramp in training students from 9 different school districts for our region’s current and future workforce needs.”

McGinnis said CAVC provides career and technical education courses to High school juniors and seniors. He also said they are working with their education partners to expand their reach to provide adult training with this planned expansion.

“Our current students are in class for two and half hours per day learning the skills and information about the career their chosen class focuses on,” McGinnis said. “Our mission is to make our classes as close to the real life work environment as possible, whether that is through school based enterprises, worksite visits, or clinical hours.”

McGinnis explained that 40 percent of students who attend the center enter the workforce right after graduation. Another 30 percent of students who graduate from the center will seek advanced training through technical schools, apprenticeships or college, while the rest are generally undecided on a career path.

Once the project begins, work schedules will be offset to allow classes to continue while additional space is added. Renovations will then follow.  Work will be staggered, making sure to not interrupt instruction. 

Aside from more room for additional students to attend there will be more course options for those students to choose from as well. The district is looking to add HVAC, renewable energy, aviation mechanics and urban agriculture, McGinnis said.

“We are also looking to add landscape management and additional sections of auto mechanics,” McGinnis said. “We will also have additional classroom space to add in programming to address future industry needs.” 

McGinnis said they have increased their enrollment for each of the past three years and currently have 540 students enrolled for the 2023-24 school year. 

According to CUSD 10 Superintendent Dr. Brad Skertich, the expansion will allow for over 800 or more students throughout the region to attend CAVC. He said at the vocational center students are exposed to career options that provide strong wages, insurance and benefits.

“The expansion will benefit students, area employers and serve as a driver for business development in the metro east,” Skertich said.