(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Central Community College will be consolidating classes in Storm Lake in a new, 10 MILLION dollar facility. The community college has offered courses and certification programs in Storm Lake, but out of three different locations in the community. Jesse Ulrich, the president of Iowa Central Community College, hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for the college’s Training Center in Storm Lake. “Our purpose at Iowa Central is very simple. We want students to come to Iowa Central. We want them to finish their degrees and their certifications in the shortest amount of time possible with the least amount of student debt so they can go on and have a better life,” Ulrich says. “This building represents a lot of that.”

The two-story building has 16 classrooms, an academic resource center, and a testing center. Ulrich says new programs for certified nurse assistants, welders and electricians will be added on the Storm Lake campus. It will also serve as a career academy for students in local high schools (those school districts are Storm Lake, Alta-Aurelia, Sioux Central in Sioux Rapids, Newell-Fonda and Pocahontas Area and St. Mary’s Catholic High School in Storm Lake). “These schools really came together as a consortium to talk about what the needs were in this building,” Ulrich says. The building will host community education and classes for English language learners at night. Governor Kim Reynolds says community colleges like Iowa Central are key to developing well-trained, capable workers.

Gov. Reynolds listens as Iowa Central Community College president Ulrich addresses crowd at building’s grand opening. (KAYL photo)

“Each of those jobs reflect the incredible power of these institutions to transform lives,” Reynolds said. Iowa Central’s main campus is in Fort Dodge. It operates a satellite campus in Webster City as well as the courses offered in Storm Lake.