Butler Tech officials said the $15 million Aviation Center, which is unique for high school career training in the region, will provide early aviation industry job training to teens from the career schools’ 11-member public school systems in the county and northern Hamilton County.
“We could not be more excited about today,” said Adam Snoddy, principal of the Aviation Center. “And seeing all the students come in with their enthusiasm … it’s the first time all of our aviation students have been under one roof all at the same time.”
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
In recent years, Butler Tech’s fast-growing aviation program has been taught out of cramped, make-shift classroom in one of the airport’s hangars and at the school system’s D. Russel Lee campus in Fairfield Twp.
But now the 30,000-square-foot learning center and hangar, located at 2301 Wedekind Drive in the northern portion of the airport grounds, will offer specialized programs designed to meet the growing demand for skilled professionals in the aviation industry.
The new, colorful and angular designed school, which is shaped to visually suggest sections of an airplane’s wings, fuselage and tail, is “substantially better on all fronts” than the program’s previous learning spaces, he said.
“It’s a larger space and more modern. And it allows us to have more students in the program and more learning opportunities – including airplane maintenance, engineering along with pilot and drone pilot (career) pathways,” said Snoddy.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Currently the student enrollment from area high schools is about 80 students, with projections to grow to more than 150 students by next school year.
Future enrollment plans also call for the eventual addition of adult students joining the career programs in separate career learning tracks, he said.
The new school is designed to provide a pipeline of high school graduates with aviation and professional certifications ready to join the workforces at airports in Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky and Greater Dayton areas or further study aviation-related fields at area colleges.
Middletown’s centralized location in southwest Ohio — within easy distance from Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky’s CVG International Airport, Dayton International Airport and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — provides an ideal site for local high school students learning careers in aviation, said school officials.
The career school system, which serves Butler County districts and Northwest Schools in northern Hamilton County, is in a partnership for the aviation school with the Butler County Commissioners, who invested $7 million — along with financial backers at the city of Middletown, JobsOhio and REDI (Regional Economic Development Initiative) of Cincinnati.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
A.J. Huff, spokeswoman for Butler Tech, described the opening day of classes in the Aviation Center as “a transformation” for the program.
“This building is unique in southwest Ohio,” said Huff.
Butler Tech student Michael Herr, whose home school is Lakota East High School, said he and his classmates were more than eager to be part of the pioneer class of learners at the new school.
“It’s breathtaking,” said Herr who is a junior studying for a career as a commercial airline pilot. “I never thought I’d be learning in a place like this.”
“We have some pretty nice stuff here and we are all very excited.”
Butler Tech aviation classmate Ava Jestice echoed Herr’s take on seeing her new school for the first time.
“This place is just crazy,” said Jestice. “If you look at where we came from (old, rented hangar space) to where we are now, it’s just a huge jump.”
“This is going to make so many more opportunities and options for (students) who want to come into the school. I’m just so excited to see what we will do in this new building.”
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