Lancaster Career and Technical Center Adds Second Shift to Meet Demand

A regional career and technical education center serving several Lancaster County school districts has added an evening shift for the first time in its history, responding to waitlists in welding, HVAC, and automotive technology programs that had grown to over a year in some cases.

"We had students who would have graduated high school before we could get them a seat in the welding program," the center's director said. "That's not acceptable when local employers are telling us they'd hire every qualified graduate we can produce."

The evening shift primarily serves adult students and older high schoolers with daytime work-study commitments, using the same equipment and instructors on a staggered schedule rather than requiring new capital investment. Enrollment in the center's skilled trades programs overall has grown nearly 30 percent over three years, a reversal from a decade of declining CTE enrollment statewide as more students were funneled toward traditional four-year college tracks.

Local manufacturers and contractors, several of whom sit on the center's advisory board, say they view the expansion as directly addressing hiring shortages they've faced for years.