SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WISH) — Officials with the South Bend School Corp. this summer expect to break ground on a new career and technical education center.

The St. Joseph County Career Hub will be located at the old Studebaker building in downtown South Bend. The facility used to manufacture Studebaker cars and, before that, stagecoaches.

Assistant Superintendent Kareemah Fowler says the career hub will be open to high school students in the district and surrounding areas. “We’ll have programs like robotics, culinary art, industry 4.0, digital design, just the various programs, you name it, right down to the regular construction trades.”

High school students will take introductory courses at their usual schools before transitioning to advanced courses at the career hub.

“The landscape of education has changed, and we are really listening to the students and the families, what do the students want,” Fowler said.

Students who don’t want to focus on a trade can earn their associate degrees before graduating high school without having to pay for it.

The career center will be available to students outside the district on a tuition-based enrollment model.

The goal is to ensure students are adequately trained to fill voids in industries across the workforce.

“This is not just a local Indiana problem. Across the country in every area, we’re struggling in regular basic education. We really have to look at how we reach and teach our students in non-traditional ways,” Fowler said.

It will cost $13.5 million to renovate the building for the career center; $8.5 million of it was approved through a 2020 voter referendum, and $5 million came through municipal commitments.

The center was expected to open in time for the 2025-2026 school year