Nick Casey has been in the career and technical education business long enough to remember when it wasn't fashionable. He took the classes himself. He built two of his own houses. He served as principal at Ramsey, where he watched students get funneled toward four-year institutions that weren't the right fit. And somewhere along the way — partly through raising his own kids — he arrived at a question that now drives everything he does: if a student is interested in working with their hands, why are we pushing them somewhere else?

That question matters more than ever at OKAW Area Vocational Center, the CTE hub that serves twelve high school districts and an alternative school from across the region. OKAW offers a staggering inventory of programs: welding, building trades, auto mechanics, auto body, health occupations, culinary, graphic design, electronics and networking, powersports, small business and entrepreneurship, and a foundations-to-education program designed to grow the next generation of teachers from within.

The problem isn't a lack of interest. It's a lack of room.

"We were pretty much at maximum capacity," Casey says. "We were turning lots of kids away."

Health occupations alone drew 112 applicants recently. Without intervention, 80 would have been turned away. Casey brought the numbers to the OKAW board. They hired a second teacher. That opened 40 more seats — still not enough, but a start.

Welding was full. Building trades was full. Auto mechanics was full. And across the building's 46,000 square feet, there was simply nowhere left to put anyone.

Then a building came up for sale.

The property on Veterans Avenue — formerly owned by Purina, later used by a blanket manufacturer called Kannada — sat available with tall ceilings, wide-open industrial space, and the kind of layout that felt purpose-built for what OKAW needed. The Vandalia school district, which owns the facilities, had previously explored building new from the ground up using state grant money, but that funding didn't come through. This was a different path — faster, more practical, and already standing.

They bought it.

The new building adds roughly 30,000 square feet, bringing the total CTE footprint to nearly 78,000 square feet. Welding moves first. With more space, students get more access to equipment, more room for projects, and a program that can potentially double in size. Building trades may follow. And as those programs relocate, they free up room in the current OKAW building for expansion — possibly including HVAC or other programs driven by community and industry need.

Renovations are underway: ADA access, updated restrooms, and the specialized 220-volt electrical infrastructure welding requires. Bids were due in late February. But the bones of the building are already right.

The urgency is real. Casey cites a statistic that lingers: the average age of a working welder in the field right now is about 58. Walk into a local dealership's service bay, and the mechanics are in their late fifties, too. The retirement wave is coming, and the pipeline to replace those workers runs through programs like OKAW's.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that in three years there's going to be an influx of need," Casey says.

And these are jobs that aren't going anywhere. "AI is not going to build a house or fix a car," he says.

The proof is already walking around. Kyle Miller came through the welding program — he's traveling now, welding on the road, running his own truck. Another graduate works at the refinery in Roxana. An auto mechanics student took over his dad's shop in town. A female student did work-based training at a local body shop and went straight to work as a tech. A graphic design graduate landed at Ballpark Village in St. Louis, designing tabletop displays for the Cardinals' postseason. And the nursing pipeline is steady — Casey says nearly every health occupations student ends up as an RN.

Building trades work like a buffet within the buffet. Students get exposure to framing, electrical, plumbing, roofing, drywall — and when something clicks, they follow it. Some leave and become electricians. Some become plumbers. The program doesn't just train one skill. It helps students discover which skill is theirs.

Operating costs are shared across OKAW's twelve member districts on a per-student basis. A district like Brownstown might send 15 to 20 students — as much as 40 percent of its population. Vandalia sends 100 to 120. The investment is proportional, and the return belongs to the whole region.

Casey isn't a spotlight guy. He'd rather talk about the kids than himself. But what he's spent a career building — and what this expansion makes possible — is the kind of infrastructure that turns a good school into an economic engine.

The message is simple: if students want to learn, this community will find a way to make room.