By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Tarkio Tech begins its first full year this fall after beginning slowly as a vocational-technical school serving the students and industry of northwest Missouri and southwest Iowa.
Interim President John Davis says Tarkio Tech had only one student its first semester in January, but that one student became certified in welding and got a lucrative job with Peter Kieweit in Omaha.
“That really is the whole basis of our programs is how they (students) do when they get out,” Davis tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “We’re not just cranking out kids that have a piece of paper in their hands, but we’re putting workers out there on the workforce that are filling much needed positions and doing a very good job of it.”
Six students will take welding at Tarkio Tech this fall with six others in its wind energy program. A plumbing course might be offered. The technical college also is partnering with area high schools to offer classes. Eventually, Tarkio Tech hopes to offer HVAC and computer information technology courses.
Students attracted to Tarkio Tech vary in age, widely. Traditional and high school students are joined by non-traditional students in studying a trade that can land them a job, often a good-paying job.
Davis says the goal of the school is to provide classes which prepare students for the workforce.
“Our whole process starts with employment surveys for the area,” according to Davis. “We draw a 75-mile radius around Tarkio and we look at the employment statistics. Where are the jobs? Because, the last thing that we want to do is create a program like oceanography and graduate 10 kids and there’s no job.”
The Tarkio Technology Institute is the revived Tarkio College, located in far northwestern Missouri. Tarkio College began in 1883, but closed its doors in 1992. A dedicated group of alumni worked to resurrect the college and succeeded in receiving state certification as a vo-tech college. It began offering classes in January, but begins its first full year this fall.
Davis says a big grand re-opening in Tarkio has had to be scaled back due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“And now it’s pretty much a one-day event,” Davis says. “We will have a grand reopening ceremony at three o’clock on the 12th and then we will have a tree planting right after that to commemorate the rebirth of the school.”
Davis says the slow rollout is by design, beginning with the welding and wind energy classes.
“And it’s just the first step,” Davis says. “It’s going to be a long process to get the campus fully renovated and this is just the first step of that. So, there’ll be new programs, there’ll be new levels that we’ll reach as we go through the years.”
The grand re-opening on the Tarkio campus will be held September 12th.