ESCANABA — The Delta-Schoolcraft Intermediate School District (DSISD) is upgrading its welding program with a new building. The new facility will open in 2025.

The DSISD was working with Escanaba High School to use its welding lab. However, DSISD Superintendent Doug Leisenring said his campus will soon have a state-of-the-art welding lab, allowing welding students to stay at the DSISD rather than go to the high school.

“We’re putting a 3 million dollar expansion on the back of the building. It’s a brand new welding center with a classroom, and then it’s all going to be some additional office space for our special education department,” Leisenring explained.

The lab will undoubtedly be an upgrade, with more room and equipment for students to work with.

“We’re really excited,” he said.

The lab contains 22 bays with ample room for equipment, a classroom, and a locker room where students can change in and out of their protective gear before class.

“It’s all going to be in one location. It’s going to be double the size, a lot higher to help with ventilation and, in addition to that, we also have the office space for special education,” Leisenring explained.

The school broke ground on the new facility in April. Leisenring hopes it will be completed by the end of January 2025.

“We should be in it by the end of January, barring any unexplained delays in these last few weeks,” he said.

Roy Ness Contracting & Sales handled the construction of the project.

The welding lab and program are just one of the options for students attending DSISD. The school offers other Career and Technology Program, including building trades, machining, automotive technology, a career in education, IT essentials, health occupations, and product design and development.

The district has students from all over the school system, including Bark River-Harris, Big Bay de Noc, Escanaba, Gladstone, Manistique, Rapid River, Mid Peninsula and Nah Nah Wahsh PSA. Leisenring said the high schools in the DSISD carry roughly 1,800 students, and approximately 450 of the 1,800 students participate in a CTE program.

“About a quarter of high school kids in Delta and Schoolcraft County, take career technical education course with us,” he said.

Programs like welding are a great way to introduce students to different fields and trades, allowing them to determine what best suits their skills and aspirations.

“Not only are we trying to get kids into the, you know, in trades. But it’s also a little bit of an experiment. We’re here for career-like exploration, so kids can try different programs,” Leisenring explained.

Instructors are not just teachers; they are well-versed in their respective fields. Before they can teach a subject, they are required to possess at least 4,000 hours of industry experience.

The school works with advisory boards for each program to stay up to date on what the industry needs are so the school can adjust its curriculum accordingly.

“Two good examples of that are in our building trades program. That advisory group said we need more dry wallers and we need more masons. So we’ve added a drywall unit and we’ve added a masonry unit where the kids will actually build mason walls in the program,” he said. He added that the school is considering a culinary and law enforcement program, but these are not currently offered at DSISD.

In addition to the CTE programs, DSISD offers resources such as the Great Start Readiness Program, special education, a learning center and more.

To learn more about DSISD and its programs, visit www.dsisd.net.