One could almost see Dan Chin smile in excitement through the phone lines this week. That's expected of Chin, a Hanford city councilman who helped fight for federal funding five years ago to get the city's first-ever vocational training center built. The facility is no longer a concept; it's a reality.

The vocational training center -- built by the city for College of the Sequoias to use -- now stands as promise of progress for the city, gleaming on the south end of the still-developing Joint Educational Center, where the high school, college and sports complex will all come together by 2010.

"It has been a long time coming," Chin said. "I'm extremely pleased that it's completed. It's just an important piece for Kings County. We need to be able to provide vocational training. It's something that is so needed here because not everybody goes to college. We have to be able to provide a place where people can learn the skills to make a living."

The countdown has begun for COS to start offering vital trade skills training at the newly built 11,364-square-foot facility inside the Educational Center. Located off 13th Avenue between Grangeville and Lacey boulevards, the building is nearly ready for occupancy, with computers set up, furniture delivered and the sign installed.

The facility will bring to Hanford many of the vocational courses that have historically been offered only at COS' main campus in Visalia. The vocational training building is part of the college's big plan for a new, expanded, relocated Hanford campus to be built in the area.

On Tuesday, the vocational center building was buzzing with a flurry of activity, as crews put final touches on its five classrooms and six offices by moving in furniture and assembling computers. Officials said they are moving everything this week.

The $6.3 million center includes a computer lab equipped to telecast and receive long-distance learning classes as well as an industrial lab where welding and automotive training could be held.

COS is expected to bring electrician training, industrial maintenance, construction technology, welding and basic automotive classes to the facility, according to Lisa Loewen, campus outreach coordinator for the COS Hanford campus.

Loewen said the college sees it as a way to fill the gap in education in Kings County.

"For us, this is an opportunity to provide the vocationaal training that the city and the COS, even the high school district, have identified as necessary for the area," she said.

Deputy Public Works Director John Doyel agreed.

"We had a situation where we had no vocational training for anybody within the city and county limits. This is a long time coming to provide (non-college-bound) students with a basic level of training so they can get higher-paying jobs to stimulate the economy and provide for their families," Doyel said. "Personally, I'm glad to see it done."

The center will officially open doors to students on Jan 12, starting with offering electrician training, Loewen said.

Earlier this month COS celebrated the groundbreaking for its new campus. In 2006 Kings County voters approved a $22 million bond to build a 40,000-square-foot campus at the Educational Center.

Hanford currently has an enrollment of 250 full-time students. The enrollment is projected to quadruple to 1,000 within five years of the opening of the new campus, which is set for fall 2010. Most notably, with the new campus construction, COS will relocate its fire and police academies to Hanford.

The reporter can be reached at 583-2429.

(Dec. 19, 2008)