The demand for vocational education, now typically called Career Technical Education, or CTE, has grown significantly in Michigan in the last decade. In the 2024–25 school year, a record 55,431 students in the state completed CTE programs, the second consecutive year that the number hit a new high, according to the Michigan Department of Education. State funding for this specific educational model has increased apace. Simultaneously, Michigan has been finding its economic footing by investing in electric vehicles, battery plants, robotics, and advanced manufacturing, and employers are increasingly in need of technicians, machinists, electricians, welders—not to mention nurses, vet techs, and chefs. Technical-focused education programs support a pipeline of skilled job applicants, while allowing students to bypass the cost of a four-year degree and providing pathways to satisfying, high-paying careers. In this context, the new Career Connect Campus (CCC), designed by DLR Group, in Kalamazoo is a state-of-the-art model of the CTE typology and an eagerly awaited addition to the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency (KRESA), which funnels a diverse range of students from nine public school districts, 19 private schools, and 23 regional school districts in Kalamazoo County. Read more about this new vocational school in Michigan: https://brnw.ch/21x2Wmc Words by Laura Raskin Photos © Michael Robinson
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