New tech building opens at USU

USU Blanding is hosting an open house for a new building this Friday, October 6. The new Technical Education building will not only host technical education courses but also find use for an old building on Blanding’s Main Street.
The new Technical Education building is located at 860 S Main Street in Blanding. That building was the old Shopko building in Blanding that has sat empty since Shopko announced bankruptcy and shuttered its stores including in Blanding in early 2019.
USU Blanding has made some remodels in the building to make it suitable for their education purposes.
Justin Bergeman is a USU Associate professor and the USU Blanding department head of technical design and technical education.
In an interview with Red Rock 92.7 FM, Bergeman explained that technical education, previously referred to as vocational education, offers a variety of education options for students.
“It encompasses certificate programs mostly that build skills and knowledge for individuals to become a tradesperson. You think about this in terms of truckdriving we offer certificate of proficiency in trucking. Those are the types of technical education programs we’ll offer.”
Bergeman explained the career and technical education courses include business and health professions but the new building is focused mainly on trades.
Bergeman shared the building has been remodeled.
“They’ve added three offices, two classrooms, a welding lab with 10 welding booths, a trucking simulator room, with three high-quality trucking simulators that compliment our truck driver training and our real trucks. On the outside, they’ve put a truck-driving backing course and there’s a diesel shop to help complement our heavy equipment and truck driving program.”
An open house is scheduled for October 6 at the new building. The events start with remarks at 10 a.m., with a ribbon cutting to follow at 10:50 a.m. The event will also feature light refreshments and tours of the new building until 1 p.m.