ABOVE: Fairmont High School students, staff and school board members at the ribbon cutting for the new expansion Tuesday evening at the high school in Fairmont. The ribbon was cut by Fairmont students Solveig Senf and Hudson Laven.

FAIRMONT– Fairmont High School held a formal ribbon cutting and open house for its new vocational center Tuesday evening.

The event was held on the one year anniversary of the expansion’s initial groundbreaking. Its construction was made possible by a $6.7 million building bond which passed in February 2021 with 67 percent of the community in favor. The new building was originally scheduled to be completed in the early summer, but delays in receiving crucial materials led to some construction continuing into the school year. While the center was operational in time for the start of the school year, work continues on some parts of the building.

“Our school district’s mission statement is to be a leading and innovative school district preparing students to thrive today and excel tomorrow, and this is just a testament to that work and our community commitment that has made that happen,” said Superintendent Andy Traetow.

Traetow went on to thank the area community, the vocational advisory committee, school board members and administrators, construction contractor Kraus-Anderson, local businesses, donors, school staff and students.

“We look forward to a future where we continue to provide access for our learners, both at our school and in the surrounding communities, regardless of age or ability, that allows them the opportunities to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to contribute to the bright future of our communities,” said Traetow.

The center contains an HVAC and plumbing facility, a large indoor manufacturing lab, a new woodshop and two new classrooms.

The HVAC and plumbing facility allows the school to offer its own HVAC program, one of the only high schools in the Midwest to do so. The facility contains a classroom and several pieces of equipment donated by area businesses for students to practice on. More elaborate training equipment is scheduled to be delivered at a later date.

The new woodshop is roughly twice the size of the school’s previous facility. While most of the equipment has been carried over from the old shop, it contains a new ventilated finishing booth and expanded storage allowing students to work on larger and more complex projects.

“(During previous years) we’d be piling boxes of stuff in the corner; it was very clustered together, so this is really nice,” said Brad Johnson, a construction trades teacher who works in the new facility.

The school’s old woodshop is in the process of being converted into a new STEM lab where students can work with technologies such as additive manufacturing and robotics.

The building’s new manufacturing lab is the largest of its facilities and allows construction trades students to work on projects in a large controlled environment. Previously, students would have to work on construction projects outside where they could be disrupted or damaged by weather events.

“Our lesson plans stay the same throughout the (semester). We don’t have to adjust to do something indoors and then hopefully get back out tomorrow, so that’s a huge plus,” said Johnson.

Currently students are working on building storage sheds for Habitat for Humanity, but next year they could begin remodeling entire homes for the organization.

The building’s two new classrooms are currently being used for agriculture courses and have exterior doors close to the high school’s greenhouse and drainage pond.

“Prairie access is really nice; you can take kids outside and gather seeds, see what wildlife is out there, (and) see different species of bugs, birds, and amphibians in the pond,” said Nick Pease, an agriculture teacher who teaches in the center.

The classrooms also have the necessary equipment for aspects of agriculture education, such as a butchering demonstration, which wouldn’t be practical in other parts of the building.

Some work is continuing in sections of the expansion. Workers are awaiting delivery of metal gates which would be installed by the gas meter on the exterior of the building and the district is also awaiting on an estimate from a construction management team regarding the installation of sound dampening acoustic panels in the HVAC lab and the woodshop. The exact timeline for the installation of these panels is unknown.

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