MANSFIELD — Pioneer Career and Technology Center will expand its welding program and add a new field of study thanks to a new $6.6 million grant.
Pioneer was recently selected as a recipient of the state’s Career Technical Construction Program grant, which is designed to help expand career tech education and training facilities.
Of the 59 applicants, 35 schools were awarded a total of nearly $200 million. Pioneer was the only Richland County school to receive funds.
Supt. Greg Nickoli said Pioneer will use the money to renovate an existing maintenance building into an advanced manufacturing center with a new welding lab. The funds will also allow Pioneer to add a new residential electric program.
Projects funded by the grant must be complete by September 2026.
“It fits the needs of our area,” Nickoli said. “Everybody needs more welders. They need more of industrial maintenance staff to work on maintaining and install machinery.
“And they certainly need folks that know electricity and electrical work.”
Clint Knight, director of workforce development for the Richland Area Chamber, agreed. Knight called the funding a “huge win” for the region.
“Career and Technology centers across the state are not able seat all of the students interested, because they simply don’t have the resources to meet demand,” Knight said.
“Pioneer is in the same situation. Being able to double their capacity for welding students will be a huge benefit for our local employers.”
Knight said the added residential electrical program will meet a need in the local economy.
“Welding and electrical trades are both affected by an aging workforce — retirements are driving demand,” he said.
Advanced manufacturing center
The 14,000 square-foot maintenance building currently houses the school’s industrial maintenance program, along with a couple of buses and a bus repair station.
Once renovated, the building will house the industrial maintenance lab, relocated precision machining lab and new welding lab — all under one roof.
Pioneer will construct a new building for the bus storage and maintenance. Nickoli said the district, not the grant, will cover those costs.
Adding a second welding lab will allow Pioneer to nearly double its number of welding students, adding around 50 seats. Administrators say there’s plenty of demand for welders in the local manufacturing sector.
Meanwhile, Pioneer’s welding program has a lengthy waitlist every year.
“All of our kids who decide they want to go into that field when they graduate from high school have jobs waiting for them,” Nickoli said. “It’s a very, very in-demand profession, especially in our area.”
Students who graduate from Pioneer’s welding program earn high-school credits that count towards graduation as well as industry-recognized credentials from the American Welding Society, a national trade organization.
The current precision machining lab, located inside the main building, will be renovated into a new electrical trades lab.
Administrators say it will be the first time Pioneer has offered a residential electrical trades program.
Residential electrician program will meet a growing need, says local union
“We know that that’s an area of high demand,” said Clay Frye, Pioneer’s director of operations.
“If you call right now and want an electrician to come to your house to do work, you might wait for six weeks or longer because they’re so busy.”
Nickoli said the electrical trades lab will be in an ideal location for creating a construction trades wing.
“Our two construction programs are right next door,” he said. “It makes for wonderful opportunities to collaborate, do some cross training.”
Nickoli said the school hopes to work out a partnership with the local electrical labor union to allow credits to transfer toward journeyman program requirements.
“A lot of times, two years at a career center is the equivalent of one year in the journeyman’s program,” Nickoli said. “A journeyman’s program is four years.”
Brian McPeek is the business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 688. He said the union is excited about the addition of Pioneer’s program.
“We are at a point where the demand is greater than the supply of electricians. It is imperative that we relay that need and offer training to the next generation,” he said.
“Pioneer has always done an amazing job of preparing high school students for a career. IBEW Local 688 has hired many students from the industrial electricity program at Pioneer over the years. I am excited to have the opportunity to grow that into the residential program as well.”
McPeek said the need for electrical workers will only grow as central Ohio sees an “unprecedented boom” in the construction industry.
“The multimillion dollar housing project on Walker Lake Road in Ontario is just the beginning,” McPeek said.
“As we build new factories and offices, these workers need places to live. The Richland county area is that place.”