College Celebrates “Grand re-opening”
The public attended an open house event at Yavapai College’s Career and Technical Education Center (CTEC) at the Prescott airport on Saturday, October 10. The open house was intended to celebrate CTEC and learn more about the facility’s recent renovations and the valuable programs it offers. A brief program of welcome and remarks about the project was given to those in attendance.
The CTEC Campus is enclosed by a 108,000 square foot building, which sits on an eight-acre site. It houses 12 programs and the Yavapai College Rural Center for Entrepreneurship.
The $5.2 million renovation accomplished the following:
Added four new classrooms
Expanded space and labs for several programs
Incorporated 10,000 square feet of storage space
Enlarged the student computer commons
Created two computer labs
Replaced aging overhead lights with energy efficient LED lights
Added noise abatement features.
Programs offered through CTEC include Electronic Technology, Gunsmithing, Welding, Industrial Machine Mechanic, and Applied Pre-Engineering. The College reports that technical education is one of Yavapai College’s fastest growing offerings and prepares students for well-paying careers while helping to boost the local economy.
Blatant unfairness. None of the programs offered at CTEC today are available to High School students in Sedona and the Verde Valley. Almost all of them are available to High School students on the West side of the County. The unfairness of this situation has existed now for about 8 years, when the College administration closed down the development of the Northern Arizona Regional Skills Center on the Verde Campus and moved most, if not all, CTE training to the Prescott side of Yavapai County.
The full agenda for the meeting may be read before attending the meeting by 
Phase 1 of the 2014-2024 Master Plan for construction at CTEC at the Prescott airport is underway for the new locations of the Automotive, Transmission, Motorcycle, Upholstery and Industrial Plant programs. The College reports that This phase of construction is scheduled to run through May 4, 2015. The second and third phases of construction will begin in March and May respectively, and conclude July 31, 2015.
The opportunity for high school students in the County to take classes at the Yavapai Community College Career and Technical Education Center (CTEC) differ greatly. Whether you can attend turns on which side of Mingus Mountain you live on.
This Blog ran a story in November based on a newspaper article stating that only students from the West side of the Valley attended a career day on November 21, 2014 at the Career and Technical Education Center at the Prescott airport. The Blog has been informed that this was inaccurate.