This past Monday, Gov. Reynolds announced four Iowa community colleges were each receiving $1 million in grants to develop Career Academies. Provost of the Carroll campus of Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC), Joel Lundstrom, says the money will be used for an academy in Templeton. The application for funding on the project has been in the works for nearly two years and they partnered with the local school district superintendents in the development process. Lundstrom explains what a Career Academy is.
The four school districts include IKM-Manning, Coon Rapids-Bayard, Audubon and Exira. Lundstrom says the program is structured so the students get a chance to experience a variety of different career options.
The next step in the process is to implement a plan that optimizes that grant.
Lundstrom explains the equipment needed can get quite costly, for building trades and welding in particular. They want students to learn on the state-of-the-art equipment being used in the industry today, and for example, that has cost them several hundred thousand dollars in welding equipment alone in the Carroll facility. Part of the grant scoring was to make sure they have the right mix of programming and that they partner with at least four school districts in an underserved area. This project fit all of the criteria. Students will be learning more about opportunities at the Templeton location soon.
A link to the full interview with Lundstrom can be found below.
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https://www.1380kcim.com/episode/kcim-interview-joel-lundstrom-dmacc-provost-2/
