Butler Tech officials said the $15 million, 28,000-square-foot Aviation Center provides a purpose-built learning environment where students train in aviation maintenance, flight and aerospace engineering while earning industry-recognized certifications that prepare them for careers in the rapidly growing aviation industry.
“We want students to not only learn about the history of flight but to also become the next generation to shape it,” Butler Tech Superintendent and CEO William Sprankles told the crowd.
“Seven years ago, we had one classroom,” said Sprankles, referring to the Aviation Career’s previous learning space on Butler Tech’s Fairfield Twp. campus and in recent years in a makeshift portion of an airplane hangar at the airport.
Now, he said, the first class of 50 high school students will expand to 200 at the start of next school year with plans to add adult career training programs in the future.
“The future of aviation is being built right here in southwest Ohio,” said Sprankles. “This center gives students the opportunity to train in a real aviation environment, earn industry certifications and step directly into careers that are shaping the global economy.”
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Students in Butler Tech’s aviation program begin training in the 10th grade through a three-year pathway that combines classroom instruction, hands-on lab experiences and real-world aviation training.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
“This is a perfect example of community and economic development,” said Adam Snoddy, principal of the Butler Tech Aviation Center. “The immediate benefit is for our students, but the long-term benefit will be felt across the aviation industry and the regional economy.”
The Aviation Center was developed through a collaborative investment that included $7 million from Butler Tech, $7 million from the Butler County Commissioners, $1 million from JobsOhio and $500,000 from the City of Middletown.
Located between Cincinnati and Dayton, the Aviation Center connects students directly with aviation employers across the region, including those around the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, while providing training in an active aviation environment, said school officials.
Middletown Regional Airport Manager Nik Brumback said: “The Butler Tech Aviation Center brings education, industry and community together (and) it gives students a unique opportunity to learn in a real aviation environment while helping position the airport as a hub for aviation training and workforce development.”
Aviation Center senior student Clara Cradduck said her new school and its state-of-the-art classrooms have been life changing for her.
“Butler Tech is an amazing part of my life,” said Cradduck. “I can’t imagine pursuing being a pilot without this program.”
“To have instructors who know what they are doing and who have so much experience … they have it all and they bring it all here,” she said.
“I feel very prepared to go into my career.”
(Journal-News Photojournalist Nick Graham contributed)
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