KC-area students can soon get hands-on training at new Northland trades school

Students around Kansas City will soon have a new facility for learning trade skills and preparing for future careers. Elected officials and school leaders kicked off construction of the Northland Workforce Development Center on Wednesday morning.

Set to open in 2027, the technical school will provide students the opportunity to explore career paths in construction, law enforcement, manufacturing, aviation, health care, welding and other fields while earning certifications and getting hands-on experience, officials said.

High school students from public, private and home school settings from across the metro area will benefit from the Northland Workforce Development Center, according to school officials. In the evenings and on weekends, the center will also offer classes for adults.

The $74 million development — funded mostly by the state of Missouri and Kansas City, with some private donations — will provide 145,000 square feet of classroom space, sitting next to Platte Purchase Middle School about a 20 minute drive north of downtown Kansas City.

“We’re here to break ground on a once-in-a-generation project that will redefine the capabilities of the Northland and prepare our future workforce with the skills to solve problems and fill the jobs of tomorrow,” said state Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, who helped secure $37 million in state funding.

‘Foundation for the future of our community’

Noah Rees, a West Platte High School student who participates in the aviation program at Northland Career Center, spoke at the ceremony about the importance of building a new training facility to supplement the current one, which opened in 1980.

“Right now, my classmates and I learn in a space that has served its purpose well, but we’ve been feeling the squeeze,” Rees said. “We’re sharing one plane, crowding around engines.”

With the new technical school, students will have the “space to take apart a turbine engine and put it back together without tripping over each other,” he said.

Rees added that the center forms the “foundation for the future of our community,” allowing students the chance to cultivate skills to make a difference at home.

“This is the promise of a good paying job right here in our community,” Rees said. “It’s the promise that the next generation will have the skills to innovate, to build and to lead.”

‘It’s about students’

Kansas City councilmember Nathan Willett, who represents the First District, spoke at the event after working to successfully secure $25 million in city funds for the project.

Willett spoke about his job as a math teacher at Park Hill High School, joking that his class is currently with a substitute teacher so he could be at the groundbreaking. He added that he’s sent many students to the Northland Career Center and saw the “pride in their eyes when they come back with skills certifications and a sense of direction.”

The Northland Workforce Development Center, he said, will help break down “barriers that made students feel like college (is) the only path forward.”

“This is the most personal, meaningful and professional, exciting project I’ve ever been to work on as a councilman in my long two year tenure because it isn’t abstract. It’s real,” Willett said. “It’s about students — students I know by name.”