Booming demand for career, tech skills sparks $46M Tri-Cities renovation
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- Tri-Tech $46M modernization replaces infrastructure; two-thirds of programs modernized.
- Project on track for July finish; adds state-of-the-art classrooms and space.
- Alumni contractors, industry advisers and state funding support the modernization.
A Tri-Cities school offering part-time advanced technical education to high school students is getting a major facelift for the fall.
Tri-Tech Skills Center’s $46 million project will replace infrastructure, modernize classrooms and reconfigure the school’s main 66,000-square-foot shell, originally built in 1981.
It’s on track to be finished in July, and the host Kennewick School District plans an official opening around the start of fall semester.
The project will modernize about two-thirds of the school’s programs, helping them grow to serve more students and implement state-of-the-art technology. The welding program will see the biggest gains, doubling to serve more than 100 young learners.
Demand for career and technical education courses, known as CTE, have boomed across the nation, Washington and the Tri-Cities in wake of the COVID pandemic and as software industries wither from the impacts of artificial intelligence.
Nearly 200,000 high school students across the Evergreen State are enrolled in some form of CTE education, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Tri-Tech is one of 18 regional skill center campuses in Washington providing eager students with free specialized education to stand out in competitive and high-paying job markets.
Paul Randall, director of Tri-Tech Skills Center, said his school received about 2,000 student registration applications last year, though they have capacity to serve just 1,250 juniors and seniors.
Student enrollment was at about 1,110 during the October headcount. The school’s most in-demand programs are pre-nursing, pre-electrical and welding.
“Our attendance rate is over 93%. It’s 66% at a high school. They want to be here,” Randall said.
Displaced students during construction
From the outside, there doesn’t seem to be much buzz of construction. But inside, hard-hat clad workers are still busy hammering, drilling, sawing, nailing and painting the interior.
Infrastructure — including electrical, plumbing, roofing and mechanical systems — are being replaced throughout.
Seven programs were temporarily relocated off campus while the school’s facelift takes place during the 2025-26 school year.
Students, teachers and staff are still using parts of the building while its under construction.
Randall said the project is an opportunity for alumni working in the trades to give back to the school that played such a heavy influence on their careers.
One of construction student, now an HVAC apprentice, is working on the project, as well as a former student who is now a pipefitter.
The plumbing contractor on site, BNB Mechanical, is owned by a former welding student Levi Bland, who attended years ago.
Randall said Tri-Tech students are hungry to learn, try out new skills and learn about various career paths. The program makes “future producers.”
And that passion doesn’t fray when they enter the workforce.
“When I think about the opportunities high school students have today, it is so much better and so robust,” Randall said. “Students have choice now. If you have an idea, you just chase after it.”
Modernizing skills centers
Tri-Tech’s core modernization is fully funded by the Washington Legislature through the state’s capital budget, which allocates money for construction, maintenance and improved facilities.
Randall praised the Legislature for appropriating about $200 million in the last few years to capital projects to expand these types of skills centers.
“You hear gripes about the Legislature, but they’re putting our money where it matters,” he said. “To me, if we think big picture, what a good way to ensure success — is if you’ve got a job that makes enough money, and you’re contributing, that’s a good thing. And so, how do we equip people? We can help them start in high school.”
The project is being built and designed by firms with roots in the region. The contractor is Kennewick-based Chervenell Construction, and Design West is the architects.
The building has some “good bones,” Randall says, but parts of it have slowly outlived their useful life.
A major goal of the modernization is to slash higher maintenance costs and to provide students and staff with a safer place to work and study. In the last 10 years, hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on HVAC repairs, roof patches and fire sprinkler system repairs.
Newer sections of the building were added on in 2007 and 2020, so this modernization will not touch those newer spaces.
Some of the Tri-City’s largest employers — including the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Kadlec Regional Medical Center and Department of Energy contractors — provide industry and business advisory feedback on the school’s programs, and meet several times a year.
The implementation of artificial intelligence is “completely disrupting” Tri-Tech programs like cybersecurity, and animation and virtual reality. But Randall said students have been embracing the tool to help diversify their skills.
About Tri-Tech
Tri-Tech is a tuition-free technical and professional training academy that serves all Tri-City students who have yet to receive their high school diplomas.
The goal is to graduate students with work-place relevant skills, such as auto repair, dental assisting, firefighting and culinary arts, that give them a leg up in the job market.
Students are paired with instructors with years of industry experience and knowledge, and regularly placed in job shadows, internships and clinics throughout their time in the program.
Applications are reviewed by each student’s home high school, and acceptance letters come in May. All programs are full-year commitments.
By the numbers
- Tri-Tech Skills Center the second-largest CTE skills center in Washington state by student population, serving 1,110 students across 8 Mid-Columbia school districts with 19 career-connected programs.
- Most students spend 3 hours in their home high school, then 3 hours at Tri-Tech, paving the way to earn college credits and workforce certifications.
- Tri-Tech has helped students earn more than 50,000 college credits and has saved families more than $6 million over more than two decades.
- Chervenell Construction is halfway through the 12-month project to modernize the school’s 66,000-square-foot main building, originally built in 1981.
- Two-thirds of the school’s programs will benefit from new state-of-the-art classrooms and expanded education spaces, allowing the school to grow.
- Tri-Tech confirms there will be at least 1 new program in fall 2027: HVAC maintenance and repair.
