Hillyard Technical Center celebrates new addition before start of school year

By Leah Rainwater

The St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce and the St. Joseph School District celebrated the opening of a newly renovated health wing at Hillyard Technical Center on Monday.

What used to be the dental school at Hillyard was renovated into a health wing, which now houses more opportunities to train students interested in becoming certified nursing assistants.

“We thought, ‘What are our needs?’ We had an advisory committee that has been helping us along the way and so we talked about where are we leaving students out,” said SJSD Superintendent Gabe Edgar.

When it came to “leaving students out,” Edgar said the biggest thing was education in health care.

“We had 110 students, guess it’d be two years ago now, that had signed up for the CNA program or the medical track and couldn’t get in because we didn’t have enough space,” Edgar said.

Now equipped with four classrooms, a computer lab and a health service assistant lab, students will be able to have what they need to excel in the CNA program.

“It definitely opens up a lot more opportunities where students can and be educated about health care and decide if that’s a path they want in high school and then follow that path to either North Central or Missouri Western,” said Kristie Arthur, director of workforce development with the Chamber of Commerce.

Another area of expansion for Hillyard is the welding program, where the district will talk about the opportunity the program brings to students in St. Joseph on Aug. 20.