Groundbreaking held for Marshall County Career Innovation Center

Friday, August 16, 2024 at 6:44 PM

By Wes Dehne

'Nothing of this magnitude comes to fruition without the help of numerous individuals that recognize the importance of skills-based training in Marshall County and our region.'

Ground was broken Friday afternoon for the Marshall County Career Innovation Center, representing an investment of nearly $9 million to better prepare area youth and adults for the jobs of tomorrow.

Both new construction and renovations are underway for the center, located on the campus of Plymouth High School. New construction will house an automotive program, and a secondary building will be a greenhouse.

For years Marshall County students have had to travel to Knox to be able to participate in an automotive program, however, that will not be the case come August 2025. The greenhouse is to provide opportunities for culinary, early childhood and ag students to see firsthand the growing and harvesting processes involved in cultivating crops and plants.

Renovations include work in the Service Center to house shop space for building trades students and a new classroom for an advanced manufacturing course. Renovations in the existing high school consist of culinary, veterinary science, ag tech/power and early childhood. Additionally, on-site childcare will be provided to staff.

Satellite locations also will provide programming in health careers, criminal justice, fire and rescue, EMT and aviation.

Serving as emcee for the groundbreaking ceremony was Plymouth Community School Board President Allie Shook, who has had the pleasure of seeing the project through as executive director of the Marshall County Lifelong Learning Network.

"Nothing of this magnitude comes to fruition without the help of numerous individuals that recognize the importance of skills-based training in Marshall County and our region," she said, recognizing early adopters of the project – the Indiana Economic Development Corp., Northern Indiana Regional Development Authority, Marshall County Commissioners, Plymouth Community School Corp., the city of Plymouth and 1st Source Foundation.

She also gave special shout-outs to Jennifer Felke, director of the North Central CTE Cooperative, and Jason Rivich, director of Marshall County Adult Education.

"These two are key personnel that are growing our programming at lightning speed," she said of Felke and Rivich, further referring to them as integral to the career center and its positive impact on the Marshall County community.

Among those invited to speak was John DeSalle, chair of the Northern Indiana Regional Development Authority, which allocated $1.75 million in Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI) grant funding to the project.

"We see it as a great opportunity for young people in our region to get the skills that are needed so they can have a great career and have a great life," he said. "The world is changing at a rapid pace. It is more complex today than it's ever been. We need to prepare young people in order to have a great career and to fill these jobs; not the ones that we have today, but the ones we have in the future."

He added that the career center would help the RDA meet two of its main goals, growing the region's population and raising the per capita income of its residents.

"We are very lucky to be a part of this program, to see the hard work that's been happening in this region for over a decade," said READI Director Jim Rawlinson of the Indiana Economic Development Corp.

"We're just at the top investing the money down into the programs we see value in, but the real hard work is happening in local communities," he added. "We're really excited to get to see projects like this come out of the ground. This whole region is going to be a part of the economy change that we're seeing."

Also invited to speak was Gary Neidig, president of Indiana Technology and Manufacturing Companies (ITAMCO) and One Marshall County, also a major funder of the project.

"Projects such as this are an outpouring of the recognized need of career education and an investment in the lives of our future leaders and workers," he said. "The founders at ITAMCO would be very happy today to know that the community has recognized the value of education for industry in trades and are making decisions that support that. The future is bright, and it's amazing what can be accomplished when we work together and work for the common good."

Plymouth Mayor Roger Listenberger referred to the groundbreaking as a momentous occasion for Plymouth and its surrounding communities.

"Today is another win for Plymouth, Marshall County and beyond," he began, adding that the new facility will undoubtedly enhance the community's access to quality education and training.

"It's going to provide opportunities for individuals to upskill, pursue new careers and achieve their personal and professional goals," he said. "This investment in education not only benefits Plymouth and Marshall County, but it will also extend its positive influence beyond our borders, fostering growth and development to the wider region."

Last to take the podium was Jeremy Riffle, superintendent of Triton School Corp. and board president of the Marshall County Lifelong Learning Network.

"Today is a dream come true," he said, recalling a discussion with Greg Hildebrand and DeSalle on the future of the Lifelong Learning Network. "I am proud to say, on this day, we have accomplished one of those goals that we set out to accomplish together."

He added that a pivotal moment in making such dreams a reality was transitioning from a board-led organization to one with an executive director.

"The data was clear, we did not have the capacity to actually make progress as a volunteer organization," he said. "We maintained things very well, but if we were going to make progress and accomplish some of the lofty goals that we had envisioned, it was going to take someone to make this their mission each and every day."

With that comment, he asked attendees to join him in thanking Shook for accepting that responsibility.

"Her hard work, relationship-building and assembling the right people to pull off such a grand vision in a very short span of time is nothing short of spectacular," he said.

Riffle went on to note that five years ago the Lifelong Learning Network set out to do something bold that would have a transformational impact on Marshall County.

"Here we stand today to celebrate this momentous occasion, the official beginning of meeting a countywide need, increasing the capacity for career and technical education, precision machinery, building and trades, nursing programs, culinary arts, all equipping our scholars to make a difference today, but also establishing a foundation for a bright future for Marshall County businesses and workforce well into the future," he said. "Today, and over the last couple of years, we have taken giant steps to help students from all over our county get access to high-quality programming right here in our very own Marshall County."

Those interesting in learning more about the career center, its programming and staff are invited to attend an upcoming gathering from 4-7 p.m. Sept. 19 at Biddle Point Inn, 7290 Michigan Road, Plymouth. Tickets are $20, which includes hors d'oeuvres, and may be purchased at www.marshallcountylln.org/event-details/mccic-gathering.