WDTI in process of major expansion plans
Standing on the roof of Western Dakota Technical Institute on a foggy morning last week, school president Craig Bailey said he could see the future from there. Heavy equipment rumbled along the muddy north side of the building as Bailey swept his arm over an area he hopes will eventually be filled with buildings and students. "It's pretty exciting," he said. "I plan to have cranes and heavy equipment here for the next 10 to 15 years." |
Western Dakota Technical Institute's 60,000-square-foot, $12.5 million expansion project is expected to be complete by 2012.
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WDTI is in the process of adding 60,000 square feet, at a cost of $12.5 million, in phase I of the school's long-term expansion plans. Underway since May, phase I includes a new entrance, a main office area, a WDTI/Rapid City Public Library, new lab and classroom space and a lecture hall.
Bailey said the expansion is on track for completion in fall of 2012.
Of the $12.5 million price tag, $11.5 million is being funded through bonds, $1 million by Pennington County and $500,000 comes from the WDT Foundation.
Bailey said the new expansion will consolidate the physical aspect of the college, an institution that exists in several different locations. "It's hard to do business with us," Bailey said.
The expansion will create a "one-stop shopping" experience on the campus, located on Mickelson Drive off East S.D. Highway 44, Bailey said. It will include the library, a satellite of the Rapid City Public Library, which will seat 230 people and be open to the public. It will be the second satellite library - the first is at General Beadle Community School.
Bailey said the college is in the process of raising funds for library equipment and furniture for the building, which is heated with geothermal energy. "Remember this is going to be the coolest library in the United States," he said. "I'm building a 100-year building."
The WDTI expansion comes at a time when society is better recognizing the key role that technical schools play in the economy, Bailey said.
"We talk about jobs, jobs, jobs," Bailey said. "This is where the jobs are."
Bailey said 94 percent of WDTI graduates obtain jobs in their career fields and 87 percent of those stay in South Dakota. The school also had the largest graduating class in history for spring 2011 - 450 students.
"We're welders; we're nurses; we're the firefighters," said Bailey, who began his own education with a machinist degree from a technical college. "This is who 80 percent of us in South Dakota are. We're the solution, not the problem."
Donald Kirkegaard is president of the South Dakota Board of Education, the board that oversees the state's four technical schools.
Kirkegaard agreed with Bailey's assessment.
"There is a job shortage of skilled labor and technical schools have the ability to provide that skilled labor market at a rapid rate," he said. "They have the ability to fill that labor shortage, and they do a great job"
Kirkegaard said WDTI isn't the only technical school in the state experiencing growth. Mitchell Technical Institute recently added a 70,000-square-foot building, and Lake Area Technical Institute in Watertown is adding a student services center.
"We're excited about things that are happening," Kirkegaard said. "It will be good for everybody."
Bailey said future phases of the expansion at WDTI will include collaborating with Community Health Center of the Black Hills. Currently, WDTI and Community of Health have signed initial agreements to partner.
Pointing north of the current building, Bailey said the Community Health addition could be completed by 2014 and eventually connected to the main building with skyways. The collaboration would provide the community with a state-of-the-art single facility for its community health center - which is short of space in several different Rapid City sites - while at the same time providing WDTI health science students with hands-on experience.
"All of this is our mission, which is to train our workforce," Bailey said.
Other future expansion plans include more space for students, a lake and a community park around the campus, Bailey said. All improvements will give WDTI a greater face in the community while at the same time serving the growing number of students, Bailey said.
It won't happen overnight, but Bailey believes it is the future. "Everything is long term here. We do it as we can afford it," Bailey said. "It's hard to argue with this place. We're the best bang for the buck in education."
Contact Lynn Taylor Rick at 394-8414 or lynn.taylorrick@rapidcityjournal.com.
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