One corner on the north side of town, the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District, hosts a whole caboodle of educational opportunities for area residents:  Careerline Tech Center opens exploration and training for high school students, Thompson M-TEC does career and corporate training for adults, and futurePREP'd works with local business to bring camps, training, and Early College to grades K through 13 and to meet their future employers.

 

Doug Bagley enlightened us to these programs that invest in our community. One story that grabbed us was a formerly homeless man went through M-TEC to both earn his GED and his welding certification late in life. He is now employed and has his own apartment at age 70.

 

These programs hire instructors straight from industry and welcome community member, particularly retirees, to work a few hours a week to teach anything from CAD to geometry, English to Business, Agriculture to QuickBooks or Keyboarding. Doug would love to recruit some instructors from our ranks.