Video produced and edited by Jeremy Bork
In November of 2022, voters in the Viroqua Area School District approved a couple of referendums that allowed the school district to make improvements to some specific areas within the district. One part of the referendums called for improvements to the elementary and middle-high school sites, addressing the most pressing issues including security, accessibility and educational enhancements. Viroqua Schools has completed most of those improvements and held a ribbon cutting at the elementary school in August. You read our story about that event, including a video tour here.
But voters also approved spending to make improvements to the High School technical education areas (agriculture, woods, metals and automotive), and the district held a ribbon cutting to celebrate the completion of those improvements on Thursday, Dec. 12.
The project added about 7,500 square feet to give adequate space for new equipment and space to improve programming. The school’s tech ed area had been left out of previous referendums and upgrades. District Superintendent Tom Burkhalter said the work will greatly enhance the districts ability to serve students in specific skill sets.
“So it actually started in 2021 when we started looking at different pieces and parts with the board and and our staff,” said Burkhalter. “And then went into a spring survey of the community. In 2022 we surveyed our community, we had multiple community meetings, and this (tech ed) rose to the top as the most important thing for us and the skill sets that we need to make sure that our students have moving forward.”
Burkhalter said the improvements no only provides more opportunity to Viroqua students, but sets the district apart in the region.
“This is something that no other district around us is going to have,” said Burkhalter. “And it’s going to allow Viroqua Area Schools students an opportunity that just don’t normally get in high school. And so when we walk the facility, you’re going to see that it’s, it’s it rivals multiple tech schools around us for what, not only space, but equipment, is in there, and we were able to do that on time and under budget. Which I don’t know if you know but that doesn’t happen today. So, I’m really, really excited to be able to provide this for our community. I do think it’s going to be a heck of a draw for students and families that are looking at different districts and going, okay, what can what can you offer us?”
Burkhlater said the skills that can be taught through these programs are skills that will pay dividends for a wide variety of students and caters to one of the fastest growing career paths.
“I think you’re going to see students that are more prepared to enter those fields,” said Burkhalter. “You’re going to see students come out with more credits with their tech so they can get into the workforce quicker. Which absolutely has an economic impact in terms of things, maybe even outside of you know, what we see today, over half of our students taking tech ed and tech ed courses. Being able to change the oil in your car, being able to fix something in your house, and not have to call somebody to come in and do that for those minor home repairs, is really a skill set that, again, we can’t really measure, but it’s just so important for our students to be able to get those basic skills”
Burkhalter said they did talk to area businesses about what the area should include and some specific skills they could focus on.
“We talked with our local manufacturers early in the process about what do we want to see in this new space,” said Burkhalter. “What type of equipment, it was really finding the balance of you know, automation, which is definitely key, but then also making sure that our understood, our students understood that when they push a button or when they design something on the computer, what’s actually happening in that machine on the back end. And so that was really great to hear from our local manufacturers. And that was that was a piece that we definitely incorporated with some of our selections.”
Below is a video recording of all the speakers at the ribbon cutting event including District Administrator Tom Burkhalter, Board President Angie Lawrence, Viroqua High School Principal Jason Cress, Viroqua Middle School Principal Steve Christianson, Director of Student Services Cathy Reed.
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