Tri Star classes start at new $25M facility

CELINA - A new era for Tri Star Career Compact has begun as students started classes last week at the new 2.0 facility.

Surpassing the compact's goal of "putting excitement back into education," director Tim Buschur said the state-of-the-art facility offers teachers the means to take education to the next level.

Wth more classroom space and new technology at their disposal, Buschur said it is up to the teachers in each of Tri Star's 15 programs to train students to be successful in the workforce.

While designing the $25 million, 100,000-square-foot, two-story complex on State Route 703, Buschur told architects from Fanning-Howey Associates not to make the facility look like a typical school building and instead make it resemble a corporate headquarters that encourages students to envision their future.

"It feels like a unique building … that makes students want to learn," he added.

As students enter the building, they walk into a large student union that resembles a college facility, complete with nine TV screens, Buschur said. Next to the lounge is a kitchen and vending machine area that flows into classroom space for the hospitality and tourism, graphics, robotics, electronic and computer technologies and precision engineering programs.

Down the hallway are labs for engineering technology, welding, construction, veterinarian technology, agriculture mechanics and auto technology. On the second floor are two medical-prep labs and rooms for early childhood education and interactive media.

Architects consulted with teachers from Tri Star's nine participating districts to design the classrooms.

"All the teachers are excited about it," rec tech instructor Jerry Kohnen said. "What's not to like?"

More classroom space allows more students to enroll in the classes they want to take, all under one roof. In the past, classes were taught at six separate locations scattered across Mercer and Auglaize counties. The lack of space at some facilities caused some students to be turned away, Kohnen pointed out.

"That's one great thing about the new facility," he added. "There's a lot more space for everything we want to do."   

The early childhood eduction room was designed to resemble a kindergarten classroom and the med-prep labs include hospital rooms with beds and patient-care simulators.   

Students are also excited about taking classes at the facility, med-prep student Alana Siefring said.

"It's a lot better,"she added.

She is pleased the building offers new technology and more space to move around.

Space also is available for adult programming and company training, Buschur said, adding he wants the facility to be used by the entire community.

The building was designed to allow for future expansion, Buschur said. He has plans for cybersecurity and possible law enforcement programs.

Celina, Coldwater and St. Marys school districts collaborated and formed Tri Star on March 31, 1983, according to information provided to the newspaper. Eventually Fort Recovery, Marion Local, Minster, New Bremen, New Knoxville and St. Henry also joined to make up the nine school districts in Tri Star today.

Ideas for the facility started when Tri Star superintendents joked about moving to one location, Buschur recalled. Talk quickly became reality when area voters approved a 15-year, 0.95-mill bond levy to construct the facility on 15 acres near Wright State University-Lake Campus.

Voting for the levy shows the community's support for the project, Buschur said. Since planning began, the community has contributed about $2 million toward the project.

"People have been saying it's about time Tri Star is under one roof. We want people to know that is Tri Star and wanted the building to identify Tri Star," he said.