WOOD COUNTY, Ohio — As electric vehicles, automated driving cars and drones take up more and more space in private and commercial spaces, Penta Career Center wants to get ahead in preparing students for those eventual in-demand jobs.
The Ohio Career Technical Construction program recently awarded Penta Career Center a grant of more than $2.4 million.
The funding will be used alongside funding from the center's permanent improvement fund to build a new, 8,800 square-foot E-mobility lab, a more than $4.4 million project.
"Not only are we creating more opportunities for all Ohio students to earn a career technical education, but we are also giving them more opportunities to be career-ready when they graduate,” said Lt. Governor Jon Husted. “Having access to high-quality equipment that Ohio businesses use will help students swiftly transition from classroom to workplace.”
The new lab will be built near the current automotive labs to host new programs focusing on all things electronic mobility.
Focusing first on training future technicians who can help build up the growing EV infrastructure across the country.
"There has to be the infrastructure, so our first push will be in technicians of the electric vehicle charging stations. So installation, maintenance, both residential and commercial," said Ed Ewers, the Penta Career Center superintendent. "That's that first real big piece that we're looking at."
"We have 54 companies coming to or expanding their operations into Ohio, creating thousands of jobs,” said Governor Mike DeWine. “We need all hands on deck to support this economic growth and that’s why it’s vital that we help our career centers expand.”
The new building will host two full-time labs with two new full-time instructors.
Ewers believes the new programs will allow for 96 additional students to be able to be enrolled at Penta's main campus.
"But really the space will be about flexibility. It will grow as the programs grow," said Ewers. "Drone technology will be another up-and-coming piece that we look at with Joby down in southern Ohio. We know that's a bigger option coming with E-mobility."
The hope is other current programs like fire fighting and home construction can also use the labs to get used to working with this burgeoning technology in their own fields.
"We have to be looking forward. We have to be looking at what's next for us so that we're prepared for when the job market is ready for those students," said Ewers.
Ewers said that he is not sure when this new E-mobility lab will be completed, but the design process is expected to take the majority of 2024.
With utilizing state money, that funding has to be spent by the end of 2027.
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