The vocational part of the school has a lot of additions and big changes that are coming with 2026. Students are going to be offered a few more classes and a new building will be finished by the 2026-2027 school year.

The new classes that are going to be introduced are Aviation, EMT, and HVAC. The school decided these classes by looking at local job markets and seeing if their programs would benefit them. They also look to see which jobs are hot spots at the moment. Within the next few years, they will return to look at the job market to see what classes they can add for the coming years.

Alongside the new classes, we are also receiving another vocational building to give us more classes and opportunities. 

According to Mr. McGinnis, “The new building should be finished and ready by the middle of August 2026. HVAC is the only class that will be housed within the new building; however, the aviation and EMT classes will be held in the current building.”

Not all classes will be able to go right to working in that field due to needing further training or education. In order to figure out the next step, Mr. McGinnis said, “EMT can go directly into the work force after finishing the class or you can get further experience and training with a local fire department and can go to SWIC or four-year colleges to get your certification. Aviation students can go to St. Louis Community College, SWIC, or Lewis and Clark for further education. You can also take on the job training for the aviation class and get paid and take care of schooling hours while getting experience within the field at the same time.” 

We are also getting new schools into our vocational system.

“Two new schools are being added which are O’Fallon and Madison,” said Mr. McGinnis. “This now means our whole vocational system is made up of Civic Memorial and East Alton, Wood River, Roxana, Edwardsville, Triad, Highland, Lebanon, Mascoutah, Dupo, and the two new schools being introduced.”