Vantage CC celebrates notable milestone

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

50 years of Vantage Career Center was celebrated during a brief ceremony held Friday morning at the Van Wert campus. Officials with the Van Wert Chamber of Commerce, school officials and others gathered for a ribbon cutting ceremony and a plaque presentation.

Vantage opened to high school juniors and seniors as a vocational school in 1976 and it’s often referred to now as a career technical center.

“It’s incredible and when you reflect back 50 years in the community and all the students that have gone through here, both high school and adult, the training that they’ve gotten and how that’s helped them in their careers and given them a better life,” Superintendent Rick Turner said.

He said in turn, Vantage students have assisted businesses by providing help in the workforce and he lauded the community in general for supporting Vantage for many years.

“We couldn’t do it without the tremendous community support that we have,” Turner said.

While students began attending Vantage in the fall of 1976, Turner noted it is indeed the school’s milestone 50^th anniversary and he said when September of 2026 rolls around, Vantage will begin Year No. 51. He also noted that he himself was a student at Vantage, beginning in the fall of 1977.

“Out of the 50 years, I’ve been affiliated in some way or form for 49 years,” he said with a smile.

Of course, the school has gone through many changes over the years but Turner noted perhaps the biggest one is the perception of career-technical education in society.

“Back then it was so new…l remember talk even after I was a student ‘how are you going to put all of these students from different schools into one building and have everybody get along and have it all work?’”, he stated. “We went from that to how collabrative it is now and our partnership with our associate schools. Our enrollment has never been better and it’s just been a successful story.”

Another big change over the years has been more emphasis on academics.

“When I went here in the early days you took English your junior year and government your senior year and you graduated,” Turner explained. “Now they do a half-day of career tech and the other half-day of academics they need to graduate.”

Vantage serves students from 13 schools in five county area (Allen, Mercer, Paulding, Putnam and Van Wert): Antwerp, Continental, Crestview, Delphos Jefferson, Delphos St. John’s, Fort Jennings, Kalida, Lincolnview, Ottoville, Parkway, Paulding, Van Wert and Wayne Trace.

19 programs are available to high school students – Ag and Industrial Power Technology, Auto Collision Repair, Auto Technology, Carpentry, Construction Equipment Technology, Cosmetology, Criminal Justice, Culinary Arts, Early Childhood, Electricity, Health Technology, Industrial Mechanics, Interactive Media, Machining and Engineering Technologies, Medical Assisting, Network Systems, Sports Exercise Therapy, Transition to Work and Welding. Various adult education and post-secondary options are available as well, including Certified Nursing Assistant, CDL, Emergency Medical Technician, Firefighter 1, LPN-RN Transition Program, Phlebotomy, Police Academy, Practical Nursing Pathways and Welding.