BRANCH COUNTY — Fall classes are larger than last year at the Branch Area Career Center.
In the 16 programs with 742 spots, there are 564 students, including 35 in on-the-job training, according to principal Mike Rasmussen.
The increase is 14 more than last fall.
Rasmussen said, “Most of our classes, we’re really happy where they’re at. They’re really close to being full.”
The Career Technical Education programs serve students from Bronson, Coldwater, Pansophia Academy, and Quincy 11th and 12th graders, either with morning or afternoon specialized classes.
Of the four high schools, 57% of junior-senior Branch Intermediate School District students attend classes at BACC.
The largest percentage comes from Quincy, where 70% are enrolled. Of the junior and senior students at Bronson and Coldwater, 54% attend BACC, with 40% from Pansophia.
Assistant superintendent for CTE Dustin Scharer said school enrollment numbers pre-COVID-19 dropped but “now is on the way back up.”
Rasmussen said more students enroll in the morning program because of schedules at their home district schools.
The principal said, “Architecture is a brand new component that we added this year. That is being taught concurrently with the engineering program, both programs at the same time.”
Eight students are in architecture, and 12 in engineering. The CAD/CAM-centered classes have 44 positions for the students.
Prior storyBranch Area Career Center wants to get back to building homes
Students are designing a house that the career center building trades students will help construct on Thompson Boulevard, Rasmussen told the BISD board in November.
Scharer said bids will go out next summer so a contractor can dig the basement and pour the foundations by August.
The career center hopes to reinstate its building trades programs, which ended in 2013, enrolling students next fall.
Rasmussen and staff would like to see the foundation laid by the start of the 2024 school year.
Thirty-five of the 36 spots in the welding program are full, with three in on-the-job training. Welders are among the most sought-after employees in the area’s industries, according to Michigan Works data.
Health Professions Fundamentals first-year classes, as are those that jointly complete college program classes in the second year, are nearly full.
Automotive technology classes are almost full, with 44 of 48 spots taken.
In the morning, the separate paint and body program had 31 of 32 students enrolled.
“Just a few years ago that enrollment was down. From my understanding we were talking about maybe not even having that program,” Rasmussen said. He credited teacher Tony McArthur with the revitalization.
There are 23 students in education fundamentals. BISD can provide jobs as teacher’s aides and para-professionals in its “grow your own” program for students who don’t want to become teachers.
The Business, Marketing, Management, and Technology first-year classes are nearly full, with 48 spots. In the second year, 15 students are working in job training.
Criminal justice remains popular, with 22 of the 32 first-year slots filled — the second year enrolled 22 in the 24 openings.
The director of 911 Communications called Rasmussen and advised him he had just offered a student a job.
The high school senior will work as a dispatcher at the Dispatch Center on a part-time basis until graduation when she becomes full-time.
The one-year computer networking classes are full, with 12 students each morning and afternoon.
Rasmussen said, “They’re getting great credentials that let them go right into the workforce and get their foot in the door pretty easily with good paying jobs.”
All students must pass the “A-plus” certification.
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Only six are in the second year because those students are all in on-job training.
Rasmussen said, “Most of our class programs are near full. We’re really happy with the class sizes, but we’re always looking for more students.”
Contact Don Reid: [email protected].