City holds intro meeting on Ranken-Southeast campus

There is another opportunity for higher education being constructed in Perry County. For that reason, representatives from Ranken Technical College came to Perryville Tuesday to give an update on the Ranken Southeast campus, what they will offer during what was deemed a Community Introduction meeting.
“We had all these kids that were geared towards technical schools and we needed to have the ability to get them to that next level,” Perryville City Administrator Brent Buerck said. “At the time, several members of our local industry , like TG-Missouri met with Ranken and within six months had negotiated an agreement and opened a 15,000 square foot facility. The facility became a limiting factor and so we knew we needed a space truly designed for technical education.”
With the help of Representative Rick Francis, Perryville will open Ranken-Southeast, a 25,000 square feet facility.
“Now we have the facility in town to provide the education that we need to fill that technical trade void,” Buerck said. “With all the educational opportunities in town, we think we are set up in the community, and region where we can impact young people for a long time.”
RHIC Contracting President Paul Findlay gave an update on how the construction of the new Ranken campus is coming along. The building will have seven work bays, which can be filled with different classes such as computer skills, welding or diesel mechanics. There will also be five classrooms decided to those work cells. Each work bay will have an overhead door to provide a way to bring in equipment that fits each program.

Currently the skeleton of the building is up and the roof is currently being put on as well. Findlay estimated that the roof is about 70 percent complete. Glass for the building will be installed soon as the weather starts to turn colder to allow construction to continue during winter months.
The facility is another step in Ranken’s reach across the state. Ranken also operates educational facilities in St. Louis, Wentzville, and Troy. At Ranken-Southeast, the college will offer such programs as Diesel Technology, Commerce Driver License, Industrial Engineering Technology, Information Technology and Welding.
Ranken Technical College Vice President Dan Kania said that it is important that the college visits with community and industry leaders in an area to find the best ways to fill needs.
“The key to success is to collaborate with communities and schools because we can’t provide all the needs for industry,” Kania said. “We are open to conversations on what a community needs whether that be manufacturing, diesel technology, or whatever else we can provide. One of the things we wanted to do with this building here is to create an advisory board within the community to hold us accountable. We want to listen and its important to get ideas about what the community is looking for.”
The building has a max capacity of about 200 students and will be completed in March 2023.
“We want kids to have the opportunity to stay here and grow here if they choose,” Buerck said. “We want them to have the opportunity to learn these technical trades and work in Perryville for years to come.” .