Old building with bright future

    From the outside it may look like an old building, but when one enters, many new opportunities await.
 

The historic building which once housed a middle school opened Aug. 18 under a new name: Holton Career and Resource Center.

 

The center will offer continuing education courses including barbering, construction trades, small engine repair, landscape construction and turf grass management, visualization and modeling (using computers to analyze data), computer engineering, and small business and entrepreneurship.

 

The programs are an extension of the regular high school programs which means students come from their high school to the center for elective classes.

 

"Things have been going unbelievably well since our grand opening," says Gloria Woods-Weeks, principal. "Students are enjoying the programs that they are in." Woods-Weeks was the assistant principal of East Chapel Hill High School before coming to Holton.

 

Although the center is currently enrolling students and many courses will begin once they have 10 students, some classes including basic mechanical repair, carpentry and scientific visualization have already begun.

 

Other classes, such as the CISCO I Networking Academy, will start in January. In this course, students will gain hands-on experience while actually working with a CISCO technician and earn CISCO career certifications.

 

A parent-student information session on Cisco I Networking Academy is being held on Sept. 28 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Holton auditorium.

 

"We are aggressively recruiting," said Woods-Weeks who hopes that more students will begin to realize what type of opportunities await inside the center.

 

The Holton Center also houses a Duke Wellness Clinic which is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday. Durham Parks and Recreation has a recreation center in another part of the building.

 

Many in the community are excited to see the old, abandoned building used for something that is worth bragging about.