A hulking building in the city of Syracuse that’s been vacant for decades is finding new life as the poster child for job training in the region. Central New Yorkers will need that training to take advantage of jobs brought by Micron and other high-tech manufacturers.
For 70 years, Central Tech in Syracuse educated thousands of central New Yorkers. In 2025, after decades of being abandoned, it will become home to a new brand of education as a Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math, or STEAM High School. Micron Executive Vice President Manish Bhatia, joined a bevy of state and local leaders Thursday for an official groundbreaking.
"The first county-wide STEAM school in New York state, that’s what we're here to celebrate,” said Bhatia.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said the STEAM school and its educational model are vital in creating a workforce for high-tech companies coming to central New York.
"It's incumbent upon us to make sure that they have the workforce they need and where we're going to educate them has to be state-of-the-art, have the latest technologies, has to have a curriculum that actually adapts to the needs of those companies,” said Hochul. “So I can say to companies not just Micron but from all over, ‘this is the place you'll get the most educated workforce. Young people have the skills that you need right now.’”
Hochul also announced that the state and Micron are investing $4 million in the New York Advanced Technology Framework, to help school districts in New York build their own curriculum in semiconductors and high-tech manufacturing.
Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, said this new curriculum approach is revolutionary because workforce development in these fields often happens after graduation.
"What we're saying is, let's have a system where we really talk about and do experiential learning, including career tech ed, from middle school and high school,” said Weingarten. “So we're really aligning the workforce, and the passion of kids, and the skills that they need."
Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh said the significance of this project can’t be underestimated, calling it another positive signal that things are changing in the Salt City.
"You see in the folks that are here, especially the alumni that actually went to school here that still love this building and love this city, you can see in their eyes that something is changing and every day that goes by every project like this more and more people realize that," said Walsh.
New York State is funding the lion’s share of the $74 million renovation of Central Tech.
