Photo by James Dobbs The Washington County Career Center celebrated 50 years of excellence at the campus in Marietta on Thursday.

Employees, mayors, state officials and alumni joined together at the Washington County Career Center on Thursday to celebrate WCCC’s 50th anniversary.

WCCC offered free food, tours, door prizes and six different decade styled classrooms from the 1970’s to the present for attendees. The decade rooms showcased slideshows, videos and music from each decade of graduates.

“Fifty years of excellence, 50 years of change, 50 years of serving the community, 50 years of students finding opportunities here for both high school aged and adult students. We’ve had 50 years of working with area business and industry and really listening to them, and allowing them to help us inform and direct the programs that we offer here,” said Superintendent Dr. Tony Huffman, describing the reasons to celebrate WCCC’s history.

“And it’s a time really to have an open house and celebrate 50 years, but really get people back in here after COVID and let them see what changes have been made,” he said.

Huffman said some of the guests may not have seen the career center for the past five or ten years, and would find newly renovated spaces, and new technology and equipment. He said some of the more important changes to pay attention to include the newly renovated cafeteria, the surgical tech lab, the high school electricity lab, newly renovated high school office space and a newly renovated computer graphics area, among others.

Photo by James Dobbs The Washington County Career Center’s cafeteria was decorated with colorful balloons.

He said WCCC’s Adult Technical Training Center has also recently received several pieces of medical electronic equipment for students, like the patient simulator named Apollo and the digital cadaver Anatomage table. He also mentioned the outdoor industrial training facility that WCCC has been building for the past five years.

Huffman said looking ahead WCCC is considering renovating space for the medical programs to put them all together in the Adult Technical Training Center, a possible expansion of the high school medical program to include a licensed practical nursing program, a fiber optic technician program and a driver’s education program.

“I think we are a great alternative for folks who don’t want to go and pursue a four-year degree. I am a strong believer that four-year degrees serve certain occupations very well and we’ll always need four-year degrees,” said Huffman. “But we have too many people in this country pursuing a four-year degree. Half of them don’t complete, half of them don’t finish, and so we have too many people in this country who have attended some kind of post secondary four-year program, they’ve racked up a bunch of debt, they have no credentials, and they get out and they’re working a low wage job. And so the alternative here is a high school aged student or an adult student, we’re going to give you a program that is going to focus on only the skills that you need on the technical side for the job that you’re training for.”

Don Jones, Ohio State Representative of the 95th District, said it is exciting that WCCC is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

“Being a product of the career center, not here, but in my home county of Harrison, I know the value of career tech and Washington County Career Center has done a very good job of keeping up with the times and keeping their programs current, keeping their equipment and their technology current with what the job market demands, and they need to be commended for that,” he said. “The fact that they’ve been here for 50 years, that’s a testament to the residents of Washington County for making sure that they support the building, the programs and the administration.”

Photo by James Dobbs From left, Ohio State Representative Don Jones, Marietta Mayor Joshua Schlicher and Washington County Commissioner Kevin Ritter talked during the Washington County Career Center’s 50th Anniversary celebration Thursday.

Jones, who said he is proud of his career center background, said he graduated from the Agricultural Mechanics program at Harrison Career Center in Cadiz, Ohio.

Jones and Ohio State Representative Jay Edwards of the 94th District, recognized WCCC for the anniversary and its accomplishments with a congratulatory proclamation.

James Dobbs can be reached at jdobbs@newsandsentinel.com.

Photo by James Dobbs Ohio State Representative Jay Edwards, left, and Ohio State Representative Don Jones, right, recognized the Washington County Career Center by presenting Superintendent Dr. Tony Huffman, middle, with a proclamation commemorating WCCC’s 50th Anniversary celebration at the career center in Marietta.