With more and more young people fleeing Cape Cod in pursuit of job opportunities, trade schools like the Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical High are becoming increasingly popular. And with so much interest in the schools programs, there's a pressing need to expand campus.
For nearly 50 years, the Upper Cape Cod Technical school has trained local students in trades like carpentry, horticulture, and auto repair. Superintendant, Robert Dutch says the goal is to keep the workforce and young people in the community.
“As we decide what programs we offer,” Dutch said, “we're looking at the job data from the labor market. We do labor studies and we identify, you know, there are so many jobs within the next ten years in this industry and that’s kind of what drives the programs we offer. Because we're trying to be able to keep students in the community so they can be near their families."
The school is only getting more popular. It hosts 727 students with 93 on a waiting list. With so much demand, Dutch says the school needs a new annex building with enough room for the Informational Technologies Program and for a new program they’re hoping to get approval for, Visual Design and Communication. Although the building will open up some spots for students on the waitlist, it mostly will add space to an already overcrowded campus.
"We were built for 500 students,” Dutch said, “with this primary building. We created these out buildings to move the technical programs into those, create a campus feel, and have the academic programs within the primary building."
The school's upperclassmen will design and construct the building under the supervision of teachers who are considered masters in their craft. Students will do everything from creating the blue prints, to installing the plumbing, heating and electrical systems.
Corey Sullivan, a student from the Horticulture program, has already started to prepare the site for when the final approval comes in.
“We took down the trees where the new buildings about to go, we’re actually ripping up the dirt as we speak right now,” Sullivan said. “And on Monday we have a truck load of base coming in and we’re going to level it out and make sure the building is ready to go.”
Dutch expects the building to cost around $650,000, which is significantly less than what it would cost if the school were to hire a contractor. Since the students will be doing the majority of the construction work, most of the cost will go towards materials. Construction is expected to begin in Spring 2016. And if all goes well with approvals from the school committee and the permitting process, Dutch hopes to complete the new annex by September 2017.
Note: Shelby Ince is an intern at WCAI and a student from the State University of New York at Oswego.
