DIXON — Dixon High School is investing $1.6 million in improvements to its career and technical education department.
They plan to use federal funding given to districts after the pandemic to implement new tools and improve work and classroom spaces for students.
This comes as manufacturing companies like Bonnell Industries and Raynor Garage Doors expand their facilities and bring in new jobs.
The current Career and Technical Education Department space has been in use since the 1960s.
Ryan Zimmerman has been a craft teacher at Dixon High School for 25 years and is looking to continue a tradition established decades ago in the same building.
“When I was in middle school or so, Mori Sensei and I were talking about how he came to do things like this, and it was like he was giving me instructions. I did,” Zimmerman said.
His goal is to train students for one of the area's most needed industries, and his motivation comes from years of working in manufacturing.
“Kids have hands-on classes where they can practice what they learn in the classroom, especially math and science,” he said.
Mr. Zimmerman's student mentorship goes beyond traditional academics and strives to provide students with skills that can be applied to future careers.
“Let's create these pathways so that kids who don't go to traditional four-year schools can take a different path,” he said.
Despite the growing need as manufacturing continues to expand, Zimmerman said the training available at Dixon High School is not available at many other schools and should be valued.
“Don't discount the fact that they're still here and there's someone here to teach them,” he said.
Zimmerman hopes that the funding for the new space will provide something new for future Dixon students.
“As part of the renovation, we also aim to expose the activities of students here to other students, so we want more students to see what we do,” he said.
Bonnell Industries, a truck and road equipment manufacturer, is in the midst of an expansion with a new facility in Dixon scheduled to open this summer and full-scale work expected to begin by the end of the year.
For more than 60 years, it has experienced many changes over the years due to improvements in technology, but the demand for workers has not diminished and continues to increase.
“If you talk about local manufacturers, Lee County, Ogle County in northern Illinois, there are a lot of them. Jobs are plentiful. Manufacturers continue to grow, which means there is still a demand for more employees post-COVID. “There is,” said Commissioner Bill Hinche. An executive director of Bourne Industries said:
The new Career and Technical Education department space will be renovated this summer and will be open to students again next school year.
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