Penta Career Center in Perrysburg Township has some growing pains, but leaders are confident that all will be well.
Superintendent Ed Ewers said a master plan is in the works to accommodate burgeoning enrollment.
“We’re looking at where does it make sense for us to potentially add some lab space here on campus,” he said. “We’re looking to grow more of our regional approach.”
The career center was designed to hold 1,600 students; 1,700 enrolled for the 2023-24 school year, Mr. Ewers said.
“Each year, for the last four years, we’ve seen a steady increase in our enrollment across the board,” he said. “That’s both on-campus enrollment, as well as enrollment in our satellite programs.”
Penta has 16 member schools in the Northwest Ohio area. Some of the satellite programs are FFA (formerly known as Future Farmers of America), business, and family consumer science.
Career tech, in general, is exploding, Mr. Ewers said. Penta offers 30 programs to high school students, including dental assistant, digital video production, construction masonry and automotive technology.
There were about 5,000 students enrolled in all of Penta’s programs across northwest Ohio in 2018.
“Last year, that exceeded 10,000 students,” Mr. Ewers said.
Accommodating more students doesn’t necessarily mean building out the career center, which opened in 2008.
A Bowling Green satellite school, which has two career-based intervention classrooms and a regional industrial maintenance program, will be expanded, Mr. Ewers said. That school opened in 2019.
Phlebotomy and a middle school construction program are offered in the Springfield Local School District.
They have also acquired a building in Holland that will serve high school students and adults, Mr. Ewers said.
There will be some expansion at the Buck Road career center, but the goal is to provide easier access in local communities, he said.
“We realize we won’t be able to create space exclusively on our campus to accommodate the growing interest in career tech,” Mr. Ewers said. “We’re having to think a little bit differently and one of those ways is to expand those regional approaches.”
One of the reasons for the enrollment growth is a change in the perception of Penta, he said.
“The first thing that comes to mind is this is hand-on learning. That’s absolutely true," Mr. Ewers said. “That’s what we do.”
What’s changed is a person’s career is not “two definitive stops” anymore, he said.
“You got your diploma and you went to work. That’s not today’s work,” Mr. Ewers said. “Our students that are in middle school and high school, they may change jobs multiple times over the course of their working career.”
Phil Stockwell, workforce development coordinator, gave an example of how Penta helps adults.
A father contacted Penta about his son, who recently got an associate’s degree in accounting. He moved home and is working for a packaging company, loading trucks.
“That’s a perfect segue for them to connect with our adult program,” Mr. Stockwell said. “Engage in a short-term credentialing program, or a long-term program.
“Earn a skill and be ready for employment,” he said. “Learn the construction side, maintain that accounting piece - you could be a project manager.”
A credentialing program at Penta costs between $1,200 and $2,000, Mr. Ewers said. Financial assistance is available.
Some of the programs offered for adults are forklift, welding and precision machining.
Penta’s member schools are Anthony Wayne, Benton-Carroll-Salem, Bowling Green, Eastwood, Elmwood, Genoa, Lake, Maumee, North Baltimore, Northwood, Otsego, Perrysburg, Rossford, Springfield, Swanton, and Woodmore.
First Published September 4, 2023, 2:45 p.m.
