Nebraska’s Central Community College-Hastings recently opened its new automotive careers training center.

The $23 million, 42,000-square-foot facility houses CCC’s auto body technology and automotive technology programs. The ACTC features five classrooms, a welding lab, a parts and tools suite, and oils and liquid storage.

Gov. Jim Pillen addressed the attendees and extolled the role that CCC plays in Nebraska higher education landscape. He said, “If you can get a skill set and make things with your hands, you make millions. I am a gigantic supporter of the trade skills in our community colleges. I could not be more proud of what our community colleges [do] for workforce development in creating extraordinary careers.”

“This program has taught me many things so far and I can confidently say the skills I have learned will be taken into my professional career,” said Jesus Gomez, a second-year student in CCC’s automotive technology program. “From the people who made the plans to the people who physically built it, (and) to the donors, this wouldn’t have been possible without the direct support from the community. I hope that we in class make everyone confident in their decision to have invested in us.”

One of the people who played a major role in the conversations about the automotive careers training center was Brian Levander, president of Levander Automotive and a member of the campaign executive leadership team. During his remarks, he said the value of this investment will ultimately be determined by those students and what they do with the opportunities afforded to them by the automotive careers training center.

“They will be technicians, the managers, the business owners, instructors and industry leaders of the future,” said Levander. “And if we’ve done our job right, some of them will eventually come back and help the next generation. That’s how an industry grows. That’s how a community grows. One generation helps the next.”