Technology Center to celebrate 40th anniversary
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No one in Tennessee has to drive more than 50 miles to reach a Tennessee Technology Center. In Warren County, few drive more than 15 miles.
Doors will open to the public this Friday, May 5, at 10 a.m. as the Technology Center celebrates its 40-year anniversary. Following a brief ceremony in the Jonah Fitch Room (room 108), tours will allow visitors to see the facilities located behind River Park Hospital on Vo-Tech Drive.
?For 40 years the center has changed the lives of the citizens of Warren and surrounding counties by being a premier provider of workforce development,? said director Andy Forrester. ?The center provides state-of-the-art technical training for workers to obtain technical skills and professional training necessary for advancement.?
In 1963, the Tennessee General Assembly enacted legislation authorizing the state Board of Education to establish, construct and operate a network of vocational-technical schools geographically located so every citizen would be within commuting distance. In 1964, McMinnville was approved as a location for one of these schools.
The McMinnville State Area Vocational-Technical School, as it was then known, opened in May 1966. In 1994, the Tennessee General Assembly passed legislation to change the name of the institution. Today, 27 Tennessee Technology Centers operate statewide.
Besides Warren County, the McMinnville facility primarily serves Coffee, Grundy, Van Buren, White, DeKalb and Cannon counties.
In the early days students enrolled in such programs as woodworking and masonry. Programs today include automotive technology, industrial maintenance, machine tool technology, electronics technology, surgical technology, practical nursing, medical assistant, computer operations technology and business systems technology.
Students without jobs attend to make themselves more employable. Currently employed workers enroll to upgrade the skills they already use. Industries and businesses use the Technology Center to find trained employees. When employment, or a better job, is the net result, the community benefits from increased buying power and tax revenue.
Students apply for the Wilder-Naifeh Technical Skills Grant and the federal Pell Grant to help defray the cost of attendance, books and supplies. Current school cost is $662 per trimester.
Anyone who plans to attend is asked to RSVP by calling Donna Thompson at 474-8324.