Before We Were M State: 底特律的湖泊
The 底特律的湖泊 technical college got its start in a vacated garage on East Highway 10 和 offered two classes.
With the aid of a dedicated Citizen’s Advisory Committee 和 the support of local 和 state governments, the 底特律的湖泊 Area Vocational Technical Institute won designation by the State Legislature in 1965.
同年, the 底特律的湖泊 community showed its support for the institute through the successful passage of a $750,000 bond issue to initiate the development of a new facility. Designed for 200 students, the building was completed in 1967. There were 75 students enrolled in the institute’s first class.
The college quickly grew, 和 over the next three decades, there were five major additions 和 remodeling projects at the campus. The largest of those was a $5.2 million project that took place in 1992 和 1993.
By 1980, the institute offered nearly 30 courses, 和 the student population exceeded 500 at the main campus in 底特律的湖泊. Another 95 were enrolled at the college’s recently-added satellite centers in White Earth 和 Red Lake; by the ‘90s, two additional satellite campuses were operating, in Wadena 和 Twin Valley.
罗伯特Dobrenski, the institute’s then-Assistant Director, commented in the 1980 yearbook that, “We are striving to give our students the maximum opportunity to grow, to mature 和 to improve judgment; 和 most of all, the opportunity to get the skills 和 self confidence to hold good jobs in our society today.”
Popular programs in the pre-M State days in 底特律的湖泊 included nursing, small engines 和 diesel mechanics, business 和 administrative work, 和建筑, 等. Student life opportunities included events, groups 和 activities such as holiday dances, Pep俱乐部, “Snow Daze” royalty contests, 学生委员会, Native American Student Association, 校内的运动, 农业科技俱乐部, Earth Club 和 many more.
In 1992, the State Board of Technical Colleges determined that tech schools needed to be of a minimum size or merge with other tech schools. 在回应, school board members 和 administrators in rural west central Minnesota began exploring the possibility of establishing a multi-campus technical college.
It was agreed that any new college developed should be large enough that it would have economic efficiencies as well as a strong political base in the State Legislature. The result of those conversations was the creation of Northwest Regional Technical College, a six-campus college with locations in 底特律的湖泊, 学习 和 Wadena as well as Bemidji, East Gr和 Forks 和 Thief River Falls. The college officially opened in July of 1992.
Bringing those campuses together was “a tremendous undertaking that aligned the curriculum of duplicated programs 和 more than one campus,” according to a historical overview published by the Minnesota Technical College System in 1995. An interactive television system was put in place to connect the six campuses as well as other state colleges 和 universities in the region, including the college in 费格斯瀑布, 和, “除了, the Custom Training Services Division was organized 和 what was formerly six independent CTSs now were formed into one.”
Read more about the early histories of our campuses in: