CARTERVILLE, IL (WSIL) -- John A Logan College is on the receiving end of a massive federal grant. More than 4 million dollars will go toward upgrades on campus.
"This is an excellent opportunity for the communities to invest in this kind of a program," said John A. Logan president Kirk Overstreet. "We're really rebuilding the face of the college."
Investing in Career and Technical Education is a mission for John A. Logan president Kirk Overstreet.
Part of that rebuild is state-of-the-art upgrades to their vocational section thanks to a 4.2 million dollar investment from the Economic Development Administration.
Overstreet says, in the long run, it means more investment and jobs for southern Illinois.
"It means more abilities for people to get the training that they need to get good paying jobs that they then can put back into the economy in southern Illinois," said Overstreet.
Scott Wernsman is the associate Dean of the Career and Technical Institute at the College. He says the upgrades will allow the college to attract more students to an ever-expanding field.
"Now we're going to be able to have more students to get through our programs which is a good problem to have because enrollment was capped in some of those programs," said Wernsman.
Currently, John A. Logan has two buildings to house its CTE program. This investment will allow the college to make needed improvements.
"It will allow us to really up our abilities to build on the economics of our surrounding students by getting them into the manufacturing and into the welding programs and state-of-the-art facilities," said Overstreet.
Wernsman says the goal is to give students who complete their training the opportunity to find joins right here in southern Illinois.
"The manufacturing sector is one that is hurting for employees and we're hoping with the expansion of our programs, we will be able to provide those employees," said Wernsman.
"It's about lifelong learning," said Overstreet. "It's about increasing your learning abilities. We guarantee they will get the training they need to be successful when they leave here."
