Cuyahoga Valley Career Center Celebrates Its 40th Anniversary

This Saturday, the is opening its doors to the community and highlighting the variety of programs it offers in honor of its 40th anniversary.

The events give the community a chance to “appreciate our past and celebrate our future,” said.

The Cuyahoga Valley Career Center serves eight districts in the region, including , , Cuyahoga Falls and , and their communities. It has career-technical programs for high school students, career education for students in kindergarten through 12th grade and a variety of classes and services for adults.

The center has celebrated its anniversary every five years, Roebuck said, but in the past, the focus was more on getting people to visit the campus. Now, the center is providing a full day of programs in different career fields and focus areas.

“There’s just so much going on,” she said.

Forty years of growth

That variety reflects the changes the center has gone through over the years.

Ray Koslo, the center’s technology coordinator, said one of the ways he’s seen the center change is in how it has embraced technology.

Koslo began at the center in 1975 as a custodian. He was asked to begin teaching custodial maintenance and went from there to become a vocational evaluator and to run the e-library before moving on to his current position. He said that in the past, there were a few programs in the center that focused on technology. Now, every class is filled with it.

Diane Nemec attended the career center as a student in the ‘70s and has been working as an administrative assistant at the center for 20 years now. The center has always kept up with the current job market, she said, evolving to fit new opportunities for students and adults.

Celebrating the 40th anniversary

Saturday’s events, which includes a high school open house, begin at 9 a.m. with a pancake breakfast and end at 3:30 p.m. Guests can drop in on a variety of programs, from those focused on technology or job searches to kid-friendly activities to a car show. Alumni like Jill Haney, who was on The Amazing Race, were also invited to attend.

For a look at all of the programs taking place at the center on Saturday, click on the PDF above.