VERMILLION TOWNSHIP — The Heartland Technical Education Center, formerly the Ashland County West-Holmes Career Center, is buzzing with student chatter, teacher instruction and construction whirring.
High school students officially moved back into the reconstructed building for full-time classes on Jan. 6.
Prior to that, their core classes — math, science, English and history — were in the former Ashland County Health Department building, which the school purchased in 2022.
With the students gone from the structure, it will now become the space for adult technical education classes.
The building will require some minor work, including updating windows and doors, along with other general maintenance, but nothing like the scale of the main building’s construction.
Superintendent Rodney Cheyney said construction is roughly 80% complete, with an expected end date of October 2026.
The $45 million project has expanded classrooms, allowed for the purchase of updated and advanced equipment, improved building safety and will facilitate future program expansion.
“We were running about $20 million over budget, so we had to cut a few things out,” Cheyney said.
The project is funded through a permanent improvement renewal levy, which initially passed in 2001.
What will the new building look like inside?
The most obvious change to motorists on State Route 60 is the new Heartland Technical Education sign on the building, which shines bright even at night, but the sign is only one small piece of the pie.
Inside, the still-under-construction main entrance already showcases some of the coming changes: new lab spaces for cosmetology students, an open-concept student lounge area and new culinary space.
Administrative offices will also be at the front of the building, a key safety enhancement, complemented with two sets of locked doors and buzzer systems on lab doors.
Cheyney estimates the offices will be complete in the next six weeks.
“Everything we tried to do was make it safer place for everyone,” Cheyney said.
The East Wing
But the building’s East Wing, which now houses the academics classrooms, cosmetology lab, early childhood education classrooms and criminal justice lab, is already finished.
“Originally, the classrooms that were in this building on average might have been about 500 square-feet, and a lot of them were a lot less than that. And now we’re at 900 square-foot classrooms,” Cheyney said.
A new key feature is the early childhood education preschool classroom, located at the far East end with a separate entrance, allowing for easier parent pick-up.
“The students will do their work and make up lesson plans here and then come next door. On this side is where little 3-, 4-, 5-year-olds learn. They’re in Monday through Thursday and on Fridays they’re off,” Cheyney said.
The program allows parents to send their children to preschool at a lower rate because their instructors are students themselves.
The West Wing
In the West Wing, larger lab spaces house programs with more machinery equipment, including:
- the culinary program, which now boasts a shiny new kitchen,
- the automotive and auto body technology’s old and new garage
- the welding program’s larger lab, which is expected to finish in February
- the construction technology’s first in-house classroom and lab space, expanding upon the existing modular facility
- the mechanical engineering lab, which has not been completed yet
- the HVAC program’s lab
- the veterinary technology’s classroom and lab space, including a room that houses puppies available for adoption and outdoor barn for larger animals
“Every space is going to be so much newer and more modern that it’s going to really benefit the whole way around,” Cheyney said.
“So it really is making sure we get the stuff where these kids are going to be using the same types of equipment when they get out of here.”
Cheyney
“So it really is making sure we get the stuff where these kids are going to be using the same types of equipment when they get out of here,” Cheyney said.
Many of the programs collaborate on projects together, including the construction tech and engineering tech students who create flag boxes for veterans in Tuscarawas County.
Construction students build the boxes — completing 150 this year — and the engineering students engrave the boxes.
“The staff is very good about trying to get these kids to understand about giving back to the community,” Cheyney said.
One of Cheyney’s favorite collaborative projects involves construction tech students building bookcases for Ashland County kids in Head Start.
This year, the students built 50 bookcases, which come with fully stocked with age-appropriate books to the families receiving them.
The families must attend a presentation about the importance of reading to children. Early Education students watch over the kids during the presentation, providing fun skits and other educational entertainment.
Upstairs health classrooms
The entire upstairs is dedicated to science and health-related programs. Cheyney said he is working toward a new organization of the programs.
He wants all students to start in health technology, and by the end of their junior year, they have the choice of their health track. Those include a licensed practical nurse track, medical assisting track, state-tested nursing assistant track and more.
Track choices will also depend on test scores, with higher certification tracks requiring higher scores.
How has the community responded?
Cheyney said he has heard nothing but positive things about the new space from students, parents and community members.
He said before construction, students were unsure about attending, but now that the improvements are visible even on the outside, excitement continues to grow.
“They’ve told me that they’re excited to come out,” he said.
“Kids can get great credentialing and go out and earn a living wage when they walk out the doors. We got kids making $25 to $26 an hour,” Cheyney said.
Cheyney was the former principal at Heartland Tech before becoming superintendent, and student enrollment used to average 300 about 10 years ago. Now that number hovers around 480 students.
He hopes the building’s improvements continue to make Heartland Tech a place for students of all ages who are interested in trade work.