For more than two years, Trigg County Schools administrators, staff and students have been waiting patiently for the completion, and unveiling, of the district’s $10 million renovation for its career and technical education center.
That wait ended Friday afternoon, when scores of past, present and future students and employees filled the new main atrium, and cut the ribbon on the Wildcats’ newest addition to the campus.
Looking out over a staggering transformation from the hands of Sherman Carter Barnhart, A&K Construction and Marcum Engineering, new CTC Principal Erin Eagleson said it was personally fulfilling to see his career come full circle.
Furthermore, he was able to look his former agriculture teacher Daniel Hale in the eye, and personally thank him for the moment.
“Packed in like sardines” the last 24 months while school continued, Engineering Teacher Lori Ricks said students continued to achieve regardless — doing the best they could with what they had.
The Class of 2024 now out into the world, she added that the Class of 2025 and beyond will get to take this achievement into state-of-the-art classroom and learning spaces before heading out into the workforce.
On hand for Governor Andy Beshear, Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman — herself a former teacher and basketball coach — lauded Trigg County’s current and past leadership not only for its vision and forethought, but for its promise to the community.
First built in 1972, with few changes since, family and friends got to walk around and see new welding tables, a clone of a hospital wing, multiple 3D printers, an upgraded school bookstore capable of producing T-shirts and signs, a heated year-round greenhouse, a fully-functioning commercial kitchen capable of catering and cafe-style dining, a tire machine and balancer, a dog-grooming table and an IT network station.
Heading into her 19th year and all with the district, computer science teacher and Christian County native Kelley Carver said her new classroom brought back those first-year-of-teaching feelings.
Friday’s revelation doesn’t happen without the Kentucky General Assembly, and the efforts of the “Better Kentucky Plan,” which moved $75 million to approved school districts for upgrades to career and technical education facilities across the Commonwealth.
June Hensley, a 1967 graduate of Trigg County Schools, said she remembered her old home economics room had sewing machines and individual kitchens, while careers like nursing and stenography were major focuses.
Ken and Jackie Oakley, meanwhile, remembered when the construction 52 years ago was “state-of-the-art,” and top-of-the-line for Kentucky schools.
Now, it is again.
