Steel Center classes prepare its students for tech jobs — and promising futures

Kevin Rice is on a mission to dispel what he calls long-held “myths and preconceptions” about career and technical education.

“People say, ‘Technical school is great because not all kids are meant to go to college,’ or ‘Kids who are good with their hands come to this school,’’’ said Rice. 

He has heard those comments again and again during his 15 years as executive director of Steel Center for Career and Technical Education in Jefferson Hills. But a recent $36 million renovation and upgrade is giving Rice the opportunity to showcase a campus where high school students from 11 districts in southeastern Allegheny County get training that positions them for jobs, college or post-secondary schools.

“We turn kids into six-figure wage earners and business owners,” Rice said.

Enrollment in Steel Center half-day programs has nearly doubled in the last decade to just over 1,000 students, and there’s a waiting list of more than 200 for programs such as welding. About 56% of students are male, and all are 10th, 11th and 12th graders who also attend their hometown high schools to earn academic diplomas. 

With an uncertain job market and soaring costs for college, demand has increased for career and skills-based learning programs, said Rice. Nationwide, the number of K-12 students in such programs jumped 10 percent to 8.6 million in the 2023-24 school year from the prior year, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

When Rice arrived as Steel Center’s executive director in 2012, enrollment was 577. When school started in August, it was 1,035.

“Families are now struggling paying off college degrees for kids who are unemployed,” Rice said. “People have figured out the value of earning certifications. Having a certification to be an EMT (emergency medical technician) is tangible.”

On a recent Tuesday afternoon, Steel Center was filled with students engaged in cybersecurity and networking courses, anatomy studies for emergency medical training, electric vehicle repair and commercial baking and cooking.

“I see a textbook that’s open to a diagram of the heart,” Rice noted as he popped into a class of students learning about infection control as part of coursework to become certified pharmacy technicians and phlebotomists.

“This is not a second-rate option for people who can’t achieve,” said Rice. 

Among the 2026 graduating class, 35 percent of students took jobs and 65 percent are pursuing post-secondary education, Rice said.   

The three-year renovation project of Steel Center’s 155,000-square-foot facility redesigned existing space that increased enrollment capacity by 25 percent, in addition to retrofitting roofing, flooring, heating and cooling systems. For instance, the baking and culinary programs previously shared a lab space for food preparation. Now, students in those courses work separately and with commercial-grade kitchen equipment. 

Amanda Kate Gorring, instructor for the baking/pastry chef program, oversees 23 students in the morning session and 20 in the afternoon. She formerly worked at Whole Foods, where she earned awards for baguettes and sourdough creations. 

Representatives of local businesses, including Bethel Bakery and Pastries A-La-Carte, serve on the advisory committee for Steel Center’s baking program. They offer recommendations on equipment, industry trends and how to incorporate soft skills, such as dealing with customers, into the training, Gorring said.

Gianna Thani, 15, a West Mifflin High School junior, wanted to enroll in Steel Center’s veterinary assistant program, but it was full so she switched to baking.

“It’s the best decision I’ve made so far,” Gianna said as she spread icing on a vanilla cake. She’s looking forward to selling the goods she makes at the student-operated Steel Center Bakery scheduled to open this fall. 

Also in the works are a student-operated art studio, cafe, convenience store, hair salon and animal care clinic that students and the public can patronize.

Students enrolled in a program introduced this year, business innovations and social media marketing, will conduct research and manage the retail operations, said Rice. 

Other physical renovations at Steel Center included a new automotive bay to service electric vehicles and individual changing rooms for students who are required to wear attire they would wear on the job. Think medical scrubs for health careers, protective gear for skilled trades and chef's hats, pants and shirts for culinary and baking. 

Students worked on some of the renovations, including building those changing rooms and demolishing older spaces, Rice said. Carpentry students are constructing storage areas for the HVAC program, and cybersecurity students worked over the summer to connect Wi-Fi and set up new data spaces.

The largest chunk of financing for the renovations was a $29 million bond issued by the 11 school districts that own and operate Steel Center: Baldwin-Whitehall, Bethel Park, Brentwood Borough, Clairton, Duquesne, Elizabeth Forward, South Park, South Allegheny, Steel Valley, West Jefferson Hills and West Mifflin Area.

Another $4 million came from the state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, and the balance from “local resources, investment earnings and additional funding sources,” Steel Center officials said at an August event to celebrate the project. 

The collaboration and bipartisan government support didn’t surprise Rice.

“I can’t find a space where CTE is controversial,” he said. “These school districts are very committed to the kids in their communities. They see the outcomes and kids getting jobs and going to college.”

Still, David Schaap, president of the center’s joint operating committee, said getting buy-in from all 11 districts “wasn’t an easy sell because it was a big project and so many districts had other projects going on.”

Schapp, Rice and Randall Lutz, Steel Center’s superintendent of record, attended school board meetings in each district to pitch benefits of the upgrades and urge board members to support them.

“Ownership” of Steel Center is based on the total value of property assessments in each district, said Schaap, who represents Brentwood on the operating committee. Bethel Park and Baldwin-Whitehall have the largest stakes and the largest share of students enrolled.

Steel Center was founded in 1964 in a former warehouse on Buttermilk Hollow Road in West Mifflin to offer what was then called vocational-technical education. 

In 1980 it moved to its current location on North Lewis Run Road.

Courses that traditionally comprised vo-tech curriculums are still popular at Steel Center, including automotive services and cosmetology, Rice said. Among the programs with highest demand now are automotive, welding, building trades maintenance, medical professions and sports medicine, said Stacey Caudill, Steel Center’s work-based learning coordinator.

Caudill matches students with co-op internships and job shadow opportunities while organizing field trips to local employers, including U.S. Steel’s plants in Clairton and West Mifflin and the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 66.

Students in Steel Center’s 18 career majors earn industry-recognized certificates, and some also earn college credits through partnerships with Duquesne University, Community College of Allegheny College and PennWest University. 

Other CTE schools in Allegheny County include A.W. Beattie Career Center, Allison Park; Parkway West Career & Technology Center, Oakdale; and Forbes Road Career & Technology Center, Monroeville.

“In any of these programs, we’re training these students to get out on day one and into industry,” said Patrick Canavan, instructor for Steel Center’s auto collision repair and finishing program. Canavan, a 2000 graduate of West Mifflin High School and Steel Center, was employed for 14 years in the collision repair industry.

Milo Bucher, 17, a Bethel Park High School senior and student in the cybersecurity program, works part time at Steel Center and has already been accepted at several colleges where he hopes to earn a cybersecurity degree and possibly work for the federal government. 

Marissa Gumina, 15, a West Mifflin High School sophomore studying automotive technology, has long-term goals closer to home. “My dad is in auto technology, and I want to open a shop with him,” she said.

Her classmate, Abbigail Zaharko, 16, a sophomore at South Park High School, has a passion for cars but wants a career in forensic science.

“I’m here because I want to learn and work in automotive to pay my way through college,” she said.