DACC programs moving into South Campus

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Labs and classes from the Delaware Area Career Center North Campus have begun moving to the DACC Consolidated Campus ahead of the 2019-2020 school year.

The upcoming school year will be the first year that all DACC students will attend the consolidated campus located at 4565 Columbus Pike in Delaware. The site was originally referred to as the DACC South Campus, but in 2016, construction began on a new wing of high-bay labs, and other areas of the existing campus were expanded and renovated to support all the DACC programs.

For the past few weeks, instructors at the DACC North Campus have been moving equipment and materials to their new spaces at the consolidated campus.

Robert Swonger, the automotive technology instructor at the DACC, was in his new lab space on Monday. He’s excited to see the new area come together.

“It’s larger in terms of square footage,” Swonger said. “Everything is a trade off, but I’m gaining more than I’m losing.”

Swonger said the automotive lab at the north campus was in an “L” shape, and the new lab is completely open, allowing him to better keep track of what students are working on. Swonger said the lab also feels familiar to the area he worked when he was a technician at John Deere.

Swonger said he’s moved equipment like overhead lifts, scissor lifts, a balancing machine, the alignment machine, and tool boxes to the new space, and he’s still configuring it. He added that he’s excited that the lab has a teaching area that’s part of the space, instead of having to make students go to a different classroom.

In addition to the teaching space, Swonger added he was excited to a have a tool crib that he can station a student in to oversee which tools are being taken out.

“It’s much more usable,” he said. “It’s broadening our capabilities. It’s new and exciting.”

The consolidation of campuses was announced in 2015 and was designed to bring the two schools together to improve access to resources and cut costs on transportation and maintaining the aging north campus.

The 128,313-square-foot DACC North Campus was sold to Delaware County in July 2017 for $1.7 million.

Classes at the career center begin on Aug. 13. The DACC will hold a grand opening of the consolidated campus on Aug. 15 from 5 to 8 p.m.

Delaware Area Career Center Automotive instructor Robert Swonger moves tool boxes into the new tool crib in the DACC Consolidated Campus automotive lab. Automotive technology is one of many programs from the DACC North Campus being relocated to the soon-to-be complete consolidated campus.
https://www.delgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2019/06/web1_Auto-Lab-1.jpgDelaware Area Career Center Automotive instructor Robert Swonger moves tool boxes into the new tool crib in the DACC Consolidated Campus automotive lab. Automotive technology is one of many programs from the DACC North Campus being relocated to the soon-to-be complete consolidated campus. Glenn Battishill | The Gazette

Overhead lifts and other machines fill the new automotive lab at the DACC’s Consolidated Campus.
https://www.delgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2019/06/web1_Auto-Lab-2.jpgOverhead lifts and other machines fill the new automotive lab at the DACC’s Consolidated Campus. Glenn Battishill | The Gazette

By Glenn Battishill

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Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903 or on Twitter @BattishillDG

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