GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ- WLUK) – Northeast Wisconsin Technical College is celebrating the opening of its new Center of Information Technology.
It’s a part of the $66.5 million referendum voters passed in 2015.
“A lot of wows, especially the students that were in the old space,” said Mike Teske, a network specialist instructor.
Teske tells WLUK the information technology wing of NWTC was last updated more than ten years ago.
$2 million in renovations and additions has given the school a state of the art facility.
Justin Steiner, a network specialist student, calls it a game changer.
“It’s also really cool to have a bunch of new equipment to play with and work with because that’s what I’m going to be working with out in the industry”
Some of the new equipment includes dual-monitor computer stations that rise and store in the desks and a climate-controlled data center, allowing new hands on opportunities.
“Before, our infrastructure, meaning the servers that we use, all the technology we use was spread across in different closets and what not,” said Teske. “Now what we have is everything consolidated downstairs.”
Also part of the new space, you’ll find a variety of small study spaces called ‘people pockets.’ They were designed to give students somewhere to go when they aren’t in class, something that was lacking before.
“On a scale from one to ten, they’ve gone from a five to a ten,” said Mitch Weckop, the CEO of Skyline, an IT consulting company.
Weckop says the new technology at NWTC better reflects what his company sees from customers.
“You know a lot of times for students it’s hard to go from the theoretical to practical application and I think they’ve really upgraded the way to give people hands on experience”
That experience will come in handy quickly for those who complete the school’s network specialist program. The job placement rate for graduates is currently 100 percent.
Teske says the average starting salary for a network specialist graduate is in the high $30,000 range.
