Friends of Vocational-Technical & Agricultural Education,
A wonderful example of a Chapter 74 vocational technical school expanding capacity to increase enrollment among district students, with prospective students currently facing a wait list and enrollment increases seen for the foreseeable future.
Congratulations to Nashoba Tech Superintendent Denise Pigeon and the entire school community!
David
A new era begins with new wing at Nashoba Tech
Nashoba Tech Superintendent Denise Pigeon, surrounded by district, local and state officials, cuts the ribbon on the school’s new 7,000-square-foot wing that will house the Engineering Technology, Robotics and Programming & Web Development programs on Aug. 22, 2024.
WESTFORD — Nashoba Valley Technical High School isn’t just starting a new school year on Aug. 28. It’s starting a new era.
The Westford-based district officially opened its new wing on Aug. 22, cutting the ceremonial ribbon on a 7,000-square-foot space that will house the Programming & Web Development, Engineering Technology and Robotics programs all under one roof where students and staff members can work collaboratively.
The new wing is located on the eastern side of the campus and adjacent to the Advanced Manufacturing program. Thursday’s gathering included state and local officials, district representatives, and current and former students.
Kicking off the speaking program before the ribbon was cut, Nashoba Tech Superintendent Denise Pigeon told the crowd, “Today to me seems like the first day of school. This is so exciting.”
Pigeon said the expansion will allow the school to increase enrollment among district students, with prospective students currently facing a wait list and enrollment increases seen for the foreseeable future.
Jeffrey Scheminger, Nashoba Tech’s technical director who also served as the project manager for the new wing, spoke about when he served as the Engineering Technology instructor, the program was located at the opposite end of the school from Advanced Manufacturing, a program with which Engineering works closely.
“It always drove me crazy that I had to go all the way across the building to get to Advanced Manufacturing,” he said, adding that it wasn’t just the long walk but also trying to maneuver two-ton pieces of machinery between the two programs.
It was during the COVID-19 shutdown that school administrators started to come up with the idea of grouping the four related programs — Programming & Web, Engineering, Robotics and Advanced Manufacturing — together.
Pigeon said it took a collaborative effort among staff, School Committee members and officials from the district’s eight member towns — Ayer, Chelmsford, Groton, Littleton, Pepperell, Shirley, Townsend, and Westford — to see the project to fruition, not to mention a $3.75 million grant from the state’s Chapter 74 Vocational Instructional Space Facility Expansion program.
“We all said what if — what if we could build a building in an underutilized parking lot that wasn’t really utilized much until a thing called COVID hit, and we utilized it as extra classroom space?” Pigeon said. “What it we could bring Programming & Web, Engineering and Robotics together in an area where they could work collaboratively? And guess what — right across from Advanced
Manufacturing. What if instead of all over the building, they were together?”
She said adding the new wing then freed up the spaces previously occupied by those programs to now be used to increase space for the construction programs, including Electrical Technology, Plumbing & Hearing and Carpentry, as those programs continue to grow in popularity with incoming students.
Pigeon said with school ready to open on Aug. 28, enrollment stands just shy of 800.
Pigeon, Scheminger and School Committee Chair Charlie Ellis praised the work of Littleton-based Triumph Modular, which submitted the winning bid to oversee the construction. Ground was broken in April, and the wing was completed in just four months.
“Triumph Modular, from start to finish, helped us through,” Scheminger said. “They made it work. We collaborated very well with them. There were a whole lot of things we didn’t know, and they did.”
Scheminger added that students were able to watch the progress of the construction, which made it even more special.
Also, through state workforce grants, Nashoba Tech also received $2.5 million to modernize and expand instructional lab space in the Electrical Technology and Veterinary Assisting programs that will allow a 50 percent increase in enrollment in those programs, as well as a $500,000 grant to replace outdated equipment in its Cosmetology program. Finally, the grants will also create an expansion of the school’s Career Training Institute for adults.
The new wing is the first major addition since Nashoba Tech added two new wings in 2005 as part of a $25 million renovation/expansion.
Nashoba Tech opened its doors in 1969 with about 250 students.
Industry partners with Nashoba Tech in putting the grant to use include Insulet Corporation in Acton, TUV Rhineland in Littleton, Keystone Precision & Engineering in Pepperell, TRAK Machine Tools in Boxborough and Red Hat in Westford, as well as the Middlesex 3 Coalition, Nashoba Valley Chamber of Commerce, North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce, Northeast Advanced Manufacturing Consortium, Mount Wachusett Community College, Middlesex Community College and four MassHire Workforce boards.
David J. Ferreira
MAVA Communications Coordinator
DavidFerreira
