From a distance, the Gary Area Career Center looks like an abandoned warehouse. A few vehicles parked outside. Another rusted-out building in the Steel City.
Inside, however, it feels like I’m exploring a sunken ship. Buried treasures of brand new equipment are still in boxes. Forgotten files, artwork and furnishings lost to time. And years of unexplained mysteries.
“We’re looking at 20 years of neglect, at least, in this building,” said Michelle Meadows, the center’s new director who took over in October.
The center looks nothing like the large black-and-white photo taken when it opened in 1968 as the Gary Area Technical-Vocational School. A long line of students wrapped around the monstrous building waiting to enter, with hundreds of cars parked around it.
A 1969 publication to commemorate its first open house states, “The opening last fall represented a giant step forward in the educational development of Gary.”
It was accompanied by a photo of the new modern building, bursting with potential and promise. In many ways, the center is a microcosm for the city, tarnished by time, neglect and mismanagement. Yet it’s still filled with repurposed opportunity.
“During a brief tour last spring, I was in awe of the unused potential that sat in this building,” said Meadows, who lives in Jasper County. “The career center is 50 years old this year, and I’m trying to make sure it sees its 100th birthday.”
Meadows has been busy making changes. New programs, new partnerships, new attitudes about a mostly forgotten building. Her office still has unpacked boxes. A dry erase board is crammed with ideas and projects. She welcomes tours by new guests.
“The more people who visit here, the more people who will realize its potential,” she said. “Twenty years ago, hundreds of students from every school district in the region were coming here.”
Currently, less than 100 students attend classes, strictly from three Gary high schools. No outside school districts send students here any longer.
“They won’t even let their students come for a visit, or allow us to come speak to their students,” Meadows said, insisting her center can house hundreds of students, as early as this fall.
“I understand why they stopped sending students here, but things have changed,” she said while guiding me through the building. “This is a dream facility for a director of career and technical education. It just needs a little money, some TLC, and more students.”
This fall, Meadows is increasing school hours, offering dual-credit courses and industry recognized certifications for her instructors. Also, Ivy Tech Community College will be moving some of its technical classes into the center, bringing with it those students.
“These programs will not only be available for Ivy Tech students, but also for any Northwest Indiana high school student who attends the career center,” she said.
Meadows has also partnered with Republic Airlines and the Gary/Chicago International Airport for the center’s new Aviation Flight, Aviation Mechanics and Aviation Operations courses.
Her ingenuity was on display when she showed me a fully-operational submarine simulator, complete with hooked-up computers, a mock periscope and oceanic maps. The nautical program was abandoned years ago.
“My hope is to convert it into a flight simulator,” Meadows said enthusiastically.
I was dumbfounded at every turn inside the center, which has 3,000 lockers, dozens of rooms, adjacent bay areas, and an odd collection of discarded items. For instance, a 12-foot wooden replica of the iconic Picasso artwork in Chicago, donated to the “Steel City’s youngsters,” according to an accompanying Post-Tribune story from 1970.
I asked, “What is this doing here?”
Meadows just shrugged.
The center has been a dumping ground from other Gary schools for many years. Old filing cabinets from the 1970s, antiquated computers from the 1990s, and piles of junk from every decade.
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“It’s like that TV show ‘American Pickers,’ or ‘Let’s Make a Deal’ with all the doors to open and not knowing what you’ll get,” Meadows joked. (To view nearly two dozen more photos of the center’s furnishings, visit my Facebook page.)
The center houses several garage bays for auto and collision repair training, car repair and welding, as well as the radio station WGVE, with four studios, and two additional TV studios with adjacent control rooms.
It also houses a dental lab, a culinary arts program, a cosmetology and barbering center, and a graphic arts department loaded with high-tech equipment, including a new state-of-the-art laser-engraving machine, a floor-model laser printer, and wireless Mac computers.
“Some of this stuff is brand spanking new,” Meadows said.
Harry Miller, has taught welding here since 2013. “We do much more than just make sparks,” Miller said.
“There is still a strong need for trade workers in our region,” Meadows added.
In the “creepy bodies room,” as Meadows calls it, mannequin patients wait in beds to be “treated” by medical students. An overgrown greenhouse in the middle of the building needs a new roof. An enormous cafeteria houses only a few tables.
“Everything we do is open to the public,” Meadows said. “Our kitchen makes the best darn lunches, and affordable, too.”
During my visit, a custodian replaced dozens of lights. Other workers organized piles of electronics and furniture to be sold at an online auction next month. The smell of fresh paint wafted through the hallways.
“There is so much opportunity here,” Meadows said. “I like the challenge of it.”
Located at 1800 E. 35th Ave., just off Martin Luther King Drive, the center is less than five minutes from Interstate 65.
“Outsiders don’t know how accessible this center is,” Meadows said. “I’m trying to bring back its credibility. We just need a chance.”
jdavich@post-tribcom
Twitter@jdavich