COLUMBIA — After almost two years of construction, the Columbia Area Career Center officially opened its new expansion Tuesday — adding more than 26,000 square feet of space and giving students across Boone County access to new labs and hands-on learning opportunities.
John Lyman, president of the Columbia School Board, said the completion marks a major milestone for Columbia Public Schools.
"Well, it's exciting because it's the completion of a promise that we made to the community," Lyman said. "We asked the community for some help a couple years ago with some funding, and we've put it together. It's an awesome facility. It's modern. It's really unlike anything I've ever walked through before."
A 2022 bond issue funded the project, and construction began the following year. Lyman said despite the ongoing work, classes continued inside the building throughout the renovation.
"It was a lot, from the design phase with our architects to actually building things and then working with the city and with the high school across the street," he said. "There were classes that were still happening while construction was going on. It's a real testament to the staff here and making it work while construction was ongoing so that nothing skipped a beat."
The Columbia Area Career Center is located at 4203 S. Providence Road, which is by Rock Bridge High School.
The facility now features renovated classrooms, energy-efficient upgrades and new labs designed to mirror real-world environments.
"There's an industrial kitchen in there — like you're going into a fancy five-star restaurant," Lyman said. "There are computer labs, audio-visual studios, you could do news recordings and things in this place. It's unbelievable."
Lyman said the goal is to make students feel inspired about their future careers as soon as they walk into the building.
"You go into some of these rooms, and I can't imagine that a student's not going to walk into one and go, 'I want to do this,'" Lyman said. "They're going to be 16 or 17 years old and already have a great idea of what they want to do for a career. This is going to really open the door for a lot of students in figuring out what they want to do after they graduate."
The Columbia Area Career Center serves nearly 3,000 students across Boone County, including those from public, private and homeschooling backgrounds.
"Students from throughout the district, throughout Boone County, there are students from Tolton, from Southern Boone, from Ashland," Lyman said. "There was even a homeschool student taking a class here. It's really awesome that the district has built this and that we're able to use it."
Columbia Public Schools Superintendent Jeff Klein said the new expansion strengthens the district's focus on preparing students for both college and the workforce.
"Workforce development is so important to this community," Klein said. "The expansion and renovation allow us to expand the number of students that we can support and increase the quality of the services that we're providing. It's really a contribution to the community and is going to make a big difference in the lives of a lot of young people."
Klein said the district's mission is to ensure that every student graduates "college, career and life ready."
"Not every graduate knows 100% what they're going to do, but we want every graduate to have a strong direction and a sense of who they are as a pre-professional," Klein said. "Giving them the opportunity to learn a trade, to learn skill sets, and to do that before they graduate high school is a gift."
Lyman said the new building is a reflection of Columbia's commitment to investing in its future.
"This is just really an exciting time for Columbia Public Schools," he said. "This facility shows a dedication to developing our future workforce. The opportunities that students are going to have now are just amazing."
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