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BUTLER TECH: COMMITTED TO AN EDUCATION REVOLUTION

September 9, 2019  |  BUTLER TECH: COMMITTED TO AN EDUCATION REVOLUTION
BUTLER TECH

Butler Tech is one of the largest career technical schools in Ohio.  Its passionate educators share a mission to help students become career-ready and college-prepared in the 21st century.  Butler Tech serves more than 17,000 students daily by offering more than 200 programs on its five campuses. 

 

In 2015, Butler Tech opened its 32,000 square-foot Bioscience Center in West Chester Township to meet a demand and satisfy existing workforce needs in the biotech and healthcare industries.  The new educational facility helped make the region more attractive to healthcare-related companies and provided a dedicated pipeline of bioscience and healthcare workforce trainees.

 

In May, Butler Tech’s Bioscience Center announced a 4,500 square-foot addition onto the second floor of its existing building.  The $2.1 million project will include a phlebotomy lab, classroom and additional study space for students. 

 

The vertical expansion above the second floor is just the first phase of Butler Tech’s most recent plans for growth with its most distinguishable facility at the Cincinnati Dayton and Interstate 75 interchange. 

 

An additional $45 million expansion is also planned for the Bioscience Center which will include a third floor expansion to increase the educational space by 15,000 square feet.  The project would also include construction of an adjacent building with a combination classroom and professional development space for both education and business use and would serve as a gathering space for public and private partnerships.

 

According to AJ Huff, Butler Tech’s Public Relations Coordinator, “The Bioscience Center is more like a college campus than a traditional high school because students work on projects in groups and you typically see students collaborating all over campus throughout the day not just between bell schedules—students enjoy that about the Bioscience Center.  They also have clinical times, internships, and field trips to places like West Chester Hospital where they get to experience the things they are learning—it’s a very hand-ons experience for them.” 

 

With the start of the new school year, the West Chester Bioscience Center will serve more than 300 high school students with approximately 30 staff members.  Butler Tech saw an 18% increase in applications to its programs for the 2019/2020 school year.

 

“Fostering a job-ready workforce is critical to West Chester’s sustainability as a premier community for economic development,” said West Chester Township Administrator Larry D. Burks. “Butler Tech, Lakota Schools and the post-secondary schools operating in our community are to be applauded for progressive thinking and excellence.”