Newburgh Free Academy cut the ribbon Monday on a new Career and Technical Education Center designed to give students hands-on training for careers ranging from the building trades to health care, animal care and media production.

The Newburgh Enlarged City School District unveiled the $78 million, 132,000-square-foot building Aug. 31 following a project that is nearly a decade in the making. About 450 juniors and seniors will attend the center when students return Sept. 3, with 17 career pathways offered, including four new programs in HVAC, plumbing, pet grooming and veterinary science.

“Make no mistake, this school is an absolute game changer,” Superintendent Dr. Jackielyn Manning Campbell said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The center will house programs in auto body, auto technology, cosmetology, law and security, barbering, construction, culinary art, electrical, fashion design, HVAC, health sciences, pet grooming, photography, plumbing, veterinary science, video production and welding.

Inside, classrooms and labs are designed around the work students could encounter in their respective industries. The facility includes five automotive bays, virtual reality welding equipment, cosmetology and barbering salons, culinary kitchens, a health sciences lab and video production facilities.

The four new pathways also come with spaces designed specifically for their programs. Pet grooming and veterinary science students will have access to an outdoor dog run connected to their classrooms, while plumbing students will work with residential and larger-scale plumbing systems. HVAC students will train in heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

Other specialized spaces include a photography darkroom and a video studio with a camera and teleprompter, plus a studio room with chroma green and blue curtains and a control booth with advanced equipment and software.

“Software will not be obsolete for the next five years,” according to Guy Du Quesnay, a video production teacher at NFA.

Manning Campbell said students will be able to gain trade skills, college credits and career-ready certifications without leaving their high school community. She said the programs are intended to provide pathways both for students who want to enter the workforce after graduation and those who want to continue their education.

“This new building really provides life-altering possibilities for our children and our community,” Manning Campbell said.

Before students begin working with the equipment, Dr. Elisa Correa-Soto, the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said every student will receive CPR, Stop the Bleed and OSHA 10 certifications during the first few weeks of school.

“We have a lot of state-of-the-art equipment and we want to make sure that our kids have all the safety procedures down pat before they touch anything,” Correa-Soto said.

Students can also work toward credentials associated with individual pathways, including certifications in cosmetology, barbering, auto technology and construction.

For pathways without a specific state certification, Correa-Soto said the district is partnering with colleges and universities like Mount Saint Mary, Syracuse University and SUNY Albany to give students opportunities to earn college credit.

“Once they leave here, not only do they have the foundation that they need to enter the trades but they’ll also have college credit,” Correa-Soto said. “We’re finding that more of our students want college credit as well.”

Students can begin exploring CTE before they reach the new center. Correa-Soto said that ninth graders receive foundational instruction, while 10th graders can try as many as four CTE courses before deciding which pathway they want to pursue in the 11th grade.

Enrollment in the new center was open to interested students and none of the approximately 450 “pioneer” students entering this year were waitlisted, according to Correa-Soto.

The programs were selected based on a combination of student interest and anticipated workforce needs in the region.

Correa-Soto said that the district considered a study conducted years ago by the Orange County Labor Department that identified upcoming employment trends in the area. The district used those findings, along with student interest, to develop its CTE offerings.

The classes could change as local workforce needs change.

“This year we may have our 17, but then down the line, maybe things are saturated or there isn’t a need and things will probably phase out and new things will come about,” said Correa-Soto. “We’re constantly evaluating our community needs.”

The building was funded through a capital bond approved by district voters. The project dates back nearly a decade, with district officials citing the COVID-19 pandemic, regulatory hurdles and leadership changes among the obstacles encountered along the way.

Manning Campbell, who joined the district in 2022, said the district broke ground on the center in October 2024 and raised its final structural beam in March 2025. The district worked with CSArch, Pike Construction and Jacobs to plan, design and construct the facility.

While the building is new, career and technical education has roots in Newburgh dating back more than a century. The district traces its CTE history to September 1886, when a manual training school at Newburgh Academy taught woodworking, mechanical drawing, lathe work and cabinet making, according to district officials.