Grand Forks school and construction leaders offer up-close look at Career Impact Academy

GRAND FORKS — Approximately 30 members of the local Women in Construction organization recently got a sneak peak at the Career Impact Academy under construction in northwest Grand Forks near the intersection of Gateway Drive and 42nd Street.

As part of celebrating “Women in Construction Week,” they toured the two-story, 50,000-square-foot building that is expected to reach “substantial completion” by May 1 and then be turned over to the owner, Grand Forks Public Schools, said Geoff Olson, project engineer with PCL/Community Contractors.

The school district “will be making sure they have the staffing in place” before fall semester classes start, Olson said. “That’s a pretty fast turnaround.”

Construction of the building — dubbed the "CIA" by its backers — “is right on schedule,” said Jared Kasper, who, as project manager with PCL/Community Contractors, has been overseeing the project for the past year. “We have about eight weeks left to get there.”

All programs housed here will be up and running when the 2025-26 school year starts in August, said Eric Ripley, executive director of career and technical education and technology with the school district. Ground was broken in October 2023.

The Women in Construction members showed keen interest and asked questions as they toured the facility.

“I love to see all the windows,” said RuAnn Deschene, CEO of Community Contractors. “I can remember Red River High School (classrooms) with the narrow windows. All that sun coming through, it’s going to be nice — especially in the winter.”

Built at an estimated cost of $30.5 million, the CIA will be a regional hub for career and technical education, serving area high schools and post-secondary schools, as well as private businesses.

“More than 80 industry partners have supported this project” with their contributions, Ripley said, “and the capital campaign is ongoing.”

Near the building’s south entry, a large donor wall will display the names of contributors who invested in this project. In 2023, more than $11 million was raised from private donations in 72 days to qualify for a $10 million match from the state.

“This is going to be great for the community,” said Darvin Ische, superintendent with PCL/Community Contractors. “It’ll be good for parents, too, with kids who are not interested in college. This place may be bursting at the seams.”

Instruction in the new facility will also equip adults seeking to gain the knowledge and skills needed to enter the workforce and current industry employees seeking to enhance skills for career advancement.

Programs to be offered include: building trades, culinary arts, precision technologies, automotive training, aviation and unmanned aerial systems, robotics, architectural design, engineering, computer science, and health careers such as occupational and physical therapy, certified nurse assistant and emergency medical technician.

“Precision technologies” is an overarching term that applies to the newest advances in the agricultural field, Ripley said.

The CIA will offer laboratory and classroom space for programs that are new to schools in this area, as well as those currently offered by Grand Forks Public Schools.

Nine school districts are participating in the CIA programs, Ripley said.

Academic training pathways will be available for students in grades 10, 11 and 12. Students will be able to complete their high school diplomas and obtain credentials or credits toward a college degree.

The technical education facility will provide training in “programs that don’t get highlighted as often as they should,” Ripley said.

It will also provide much-needed space for programs of study that are so popular the school district has been forced to turn students away due to space limitations, especially in the medical fields. In those fields, as well as in the building trades and aviation, interest is especially strong, he said.

As an example, Ripley pointed to the CNA, or certified nurse assistant, training currently provided to high school students.

“We have students start out as paid interns and work their way up,” he said. “The question is, how do we get them into the pipeline at an earlier age?”

In the CIA building, the area for CNA training has been designed and equipped to resemble what students will encounter in the real world, such as sinks and bathrooms to practice patient care skills. Space has also been designated as a lab to carry out certification testing.

Another “real life” environment to enhance teaching is a simulated cafe setting for students in the culinary arts program. Leaders in the restaurant industry say it’s important for students to learn “service and communicative skills,” Ripley said. “It’s those skills that sink restaurants, more than the chef or the food.”

On the tour, as he described the areas designated for building trades education and training, Ripley noted that there is “huge interest” in this field.

“We’d love to get more females involved,” he said. “I’d like to see more of a balance of males and females.”

Olson, with PCL/Community Contractors, said, “Fargo and Grand Forks are exploding right now,” referring to the boom of activity in the business and industry sectors.

In information technology, too, “there’s a lot of interest and a lot of need,” Ripley said.

Rooms in the CIA have also been designed for traditional classroom instruction and are equipped for presentations. Dedicated spaces will give teachers who will teach online courses “a place to land,” he said, and other areas are designated for students to study on their own.

The residential house-building project, which has been conducted by Grand Forks high school students for years, will take place near the CIA, where a former credit union building once stood. An adjacent lot has been secured for potential CIA expansion in the future, Ripley said.

Also, the CIA will provide space for area private-sector employers to retrain, recertify or upskill current employees, as well as “some flexible space that can be used for more than one purpose,” he said.

Post-secondary educational institutions will be able to provide training pathways, certifications and degree programs for adult learners. In many cases, college instructors will also be able to provide training to high school learners.

Beginning in May and through the summer months, the focus will be on helping teachers become familiar with the features of their new workspace, said Ripley, who will serve as building administrator when the structure is completed.

Among women, interest in the construction field has grown, industry leaders say.

“There are no limits for women,” Deschene said. “There are so many different aspects and roles in engineering.”  

The tour was a valuable experience for the Women in Construction group because “it really built excitement about getting more kids involved with the trades and being able to highlight the important roles women play in the industry for future generations,” said Erica LaMarca, executive administrator with Community Contractors.  

The local Women in Construction group was formed about a year ago to promote the role of women in many different aspects of the construction industry. Its members are working in areas such as commercial construction and the many trades, and as residential home builders and remodelers, architects, interior designers and bankers.

The group’s quarterly meetings allow women to showcase and tour local jobsites with projects under construction as well as the opportunity to connect with other women in the industry. New attendees are always welcome, organizers say.