Expansion for manufacturing students opens at Hillyard

By Jazmine Knight

Hillyard Technical Center students will be able to hone their skills in a new facility this school year.

Hillyard hosted the ribbon-cutting for its brand new stimulated manufacturing facility Tuesday morning.

The 22,000-square-foot facility, on the campus at 36th and Faraon streets, will be ready for students when classes begin on Wednesday. It will allow students to cross-train on different aspects of manufacturing to improve their skill levels.

“A big expansion of both the machining and welding programs,” said Mike Moore, Altec principal engineer and school board vice president.

Hillyard partnered with companies, such as Altec, to create a new hands-on learning facility that specializes in teaching current industry standards on relevant equipment.

“The district involved local businesses to ask, ‘Hey, we not only want to do training, but we want to do training on equipment and with processes that you guys use in industry,’” he said.

This ensures students come out of high school prepared and ready to enter their career field, while also making them more attractive to companies.

“(It) really took cooperation between the district, local businesses and government agencies to make this happen,” Moore said.

Moore said he thinks the new facility can help boost attendance as well. He said older kids can especially lose their connection to school. But, with school opportunities like Hillyard, kids can recreate that connection.

“They haven’t seen that path to what their future might look like,” Moore said. “So what you have here is exposure and skills training that shows them that path, which will result in them getting great jobs with great benefits.”

He referred to Hillyard as a hidden jewel in the community that they previously didn’t take advantage of as much as they should. However, now there’s room to accept new students from all over the region.

“That’s going to be huge moving forward for the community. And most of all, the kids,” Moore said.

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

For more information about Hillyard Technical Center, visit its website at https://hillyardtech.sjsd.k12.mo.us/.