School district unveils Battery Creek career and tech center
With the press of a trigger, adults melted shallow, jagged circles into pieces of metal inside Battery Creek High School's welding lab Thursday afternoon.
Though the goal was simple -- weld a straight line to connect the two bars -- the execution was not. If the schools' visitors hadn't been using a virtual reality simulator, they would have had to turn their "materials" to scrap.
The students were much better.
Taking the fake nozzle, aviation student Dominique Royal, 16, breezily demonstrated how to complete the weld projected on the simulator's screen.
"It's easier in real life," he said with a smile.
Royal was one of several students who helped unveil the district's newly completed, $3.8 million Advanced Technical Center at Battery Creek High on Thursday.
There, students across the district will be able to earn industry-certified credentials in welding and manufacturing, aviation, agri-science, culinary arts and the multidisciplinary field of engineering known as mechatronics.
Inside the reddish building behind Battery Creek High, a single hallway leads into five large workspaces that, aside from a handful of desks, have little in common with the average high school classroom.
The culinary arts kitchen is stocked with gleaming equipment -- some donated to the district by Sodexo -- that students used to serve stir-fry and cupcakes after a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The aviation room is filled with posters and parts, history books and models, including a gold biplane swooping over the flight simulators.
"I think when you walk through this building, you will see the potential and opportunity for magic to occur each and every day," school Superintendent Jeff Moss said.
School board member Bill Payne, a former district educator, stopped in the room to marvel as Brandon Young, a 10th grader, landed a white drone on a stool.
"I never thought something like this would be possible but I'm very proud of what they have been able to do," Payne said. "These are our future engineers."
Next year, the Battery Creek center will be joined by a nearly identical facility at the new May River High School, which will offer some different programs like cybersecurity and automotive technology. The district also plans to hire an additional 10 teachers to staff the programs, district spokesman Jim Foster said.
When the district finishes expanding its career and technology education programs, they will have a capacity of about 9,500 students, Foster said. This school year, the district is serving about 8,400, up 17 percent from 2014-2015 and 58 percent from the previous year.
Those graduating with certifications should also rise quickly in the next three to four years.
Only about 100 students earned industry credentials last year, the second in which the district offered complete pathways to certification.
Follow reporter Rebecca Lurye on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Rebecca.
Related content:
- Beaufort County schools to introduce tech programs over next 3 years, August 8, 2014
- More Beaufort County students taking career and tech courses, October 21, 2015
This story was originally published December 10, 2015 at 9:42 PM with the headline "School district unveils Battery Creek career and tech center."