Airport advancements providing opportunites for local colleges

Sep. 30—Colleges in Raleigh County have their eyes peeled to the sky as expected developments at the county's airport will translate into better opportunities for their students and the community.

As contractors continue to convert a 105-acre site at the Raleigh County Memorial Airport into a "site-ready" property, New River Community and Technical College and West Virginia University Institute of Technology officials are working on programs to train the site's future workforce.

Beyond programs in the aerospace industry, WVU Tech President T. Ramon Stuart said the airport opens up possibilities to students in many fields.

"This project at the airport, coupled with our keen interest in providing educational opportunities, makes us primed for business growth and development," Stuart said. "Which means, if I can bring a person to Beckley, West Virginia, educate them, integrate them into the community, what happens is, then we're developing citizens that want to live, work, play, and raise a family here."

In addition to enhancing existing programs at the colleges, developments at the airport are also laying the groundwork for new programs.

For New River, this comes in the form of a new certified Aircraft Maintenance Technician School, which has been in the works since 2021.

Expected to welcome its first students in 2024, New River has already purchased a hangar at the airport and acquired several planes.

At a Raleigh County Commission meeting in early September, commissioners awarded a $250,000 grant to New River for its aviation school. New River Community and Technical College President Bonny Copenhaver said the school still needs to raise $3 million to get its new aviation mechanics program off the ground.

At WVU Tech, Stuart said the college already has programs in aviation and aerospace, but he sees it being able to benefit more than the students in those fields.

"We have to be careful about looking or staying inside the box when there are so many things that can be outside of it," Stuart said. "Because of the infrastructure that is there up at the airport, it's poised to attract a variety of different businesses and industries that may transcend the aviation area."

Some of the programs that are already a precise fit with the development at the airport are WVU Tech's aerospace engineering program, aviation management program and mechanical engineering programs.

However, with the technology that will also be utilized at the site, Stuart said students from electrical engineering to computer engineering and computer science programs could also find jobs in the aerospace sector.

He added that accounting and business majors will also be needed for whatever business ends up at the airport.

"So I say all of that to say, this is a time not to just think about what the airport is, but look at all the things that it can be," Stuart said.

Stuart said the airport is also the perfect example of why he's strived so hard to turn WVU Tech into a "communiversity" where the community and the university thrive and grow as one.

"What we're trying to do is where the community is the university, and the university is the community, and that goes into even New River as we partner and collaborate with them for educational opportunity and growth," he said.

Under a new agreement signed this year by both colleges, New River CTC associate degree program graduates are guaranteed admission into the WVU system, including WVU Tech.

"This is a prime example of integration that leads to elevation," Stuart said.

Outside of what the colleges have to offer, Stuart said the combination of everything coming together gives the people of southern West Virginia something to dream about.

"It gives somebody something to dream in, but more importantly, something to aspire to be," he said. "I was just saying to a group from Ohio, you cannot be what you cannot see. And so now we have the ability to expose people in southern West Virginia to this exciting field, this lucrative career. And most importantly, we get to showcase it in a manner that makes them understand that they can do it too."