HPTC Skilled Trades Center Opening

HPTC Skilled Trades Center Builds Pathways for Northwest Oklahoma’s Future

A new building at High Plains Technology Center represents far more than additional classrooms and workspace. It represents a larger vision for what career and technical education can mean for students, the workforce and the future of Northwest Oklahoma.

HPTC will officially open its new Skilled Trades Center, located at 3921 34th Street in Woodward, with an open house at 10 a.m. Friday, September 25. The public is invited to tour the facility and learn more about the opportunities it will provide for students throughout the region.

The new center was designed to create additional space for HPTC’s growing programs and allow more students to explore careers in the skilled trades. The facility includes two classrooms, a large storage area, four bays for construction and diesel programs, and three bays for welding. The welding area also includes two drive-through bays.

Behind the building, an open area offers expansive views of Northwest Oklahoma—a fitting backdrop for a facility that Superintendent Barclay Holt hopes will help students envision a future for themselves close to home.

Since construction began, Holt has frequently been asked, “What are you building at HPTC?”

The short answer is a diesel shop and additional space for construction and welding. The long answer is much bigger.

“The one thing that I hope I am able to convey is that this build is going to allow for the expansion of program offerings on our campuses in Woodward or Beaver County,” Holt said. “Effective and efficient use of space is allowing us to provide more course offerings and is providing our students in Northwest Oklahoma an experience and platform to become an owner, not just a tenant, of their education toward a career.”

HPTC broke ground on the project in fall 2025 as part of its ongoing effort to serve more students and remove barriers to career and technical education.

“We’ll never turn a kid away—we’re going to add more programs,” Holt said.

The need for additional career pathways continues to grow. According to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, only 46.8% of Oklahoma public high school graduates entered college in 2024–25. Of those graduates, 40.3% enrolled in Oklahoma institutions and 6.5% attended college outside the state.

HPTC’s expansion will provide students with more options to prepare for successful careers without relying solely on the traditional four-year college pathway.

Future plans include expanding construction training into multiple disciplines, including heating, ventilation and air conditioning, electrical and plumbing. The Automotive Technology program is expected to move into the former diesel facility after renovations, creating the potential to add an auto body and collision component.

“They’re going to become household names of programs at HPTC that reside here and are pathways that allow students to build their interest and take ownership in their career path,” Holt said.

A Vision Beyond High School Programs

HPTC’s long-term vision extends beyond its high school career programs. The technology center hopes to eventually establish a postsecondary facility in Woodward that could serve students from a much larger region.

Holt sees postsecondary education as an opportunity to support workforce development, economic growth and population growth in Northwest Oklahoma.

“We feel like this next step, the postsecondary part, can be the biggest economic development booster that we’ve ever had,” Holt said.

Because HPTC serves an area extending roughly three hours around Woodward, a postsecondary training center could attract students, instructors and employees from across Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas. The ultimate goal would be to give students from outside the region a reason to come to Northwest Oklahoma—and an opportunity to build their lives here.

“Hopefully 100 of them fall in love and stay here the rest of their life,” Holt said. “That’s the goal.”

Another important part of that vision is already taking shape in a building generously donated to HPTC by Bobby and Brenda Alexander. The former dance studio now houses Taylor Burnett, HPTC executive director of postsecondary and strategic development.

Holt said the building will be used to help launch the next phase of career and technical education in the region.

“I told him I want to be clear on something—that I’m not going to jump into that building, turn it into office space and act like I’m using it,” Holt said of his conversation with Alexander. “I’ve got a goal with it.”

Burnett shares Holt’s focus on creating more opportunities locally.

“We are just scratching the surface of what postsecondary education can become at High Plains Technology Center,” Burnett said. “I’m a firm believer that we have the homegrown talent right here—we just have to give people the training and opportunities to put that talent to work.”

Burnett said keeping young people in the region will require communities to actively create opportunities for them.

“If we want our kids to stay and build their lives in this corner of the state, we cannot sit around waiting for someone else to create our future,” Burnett said. “We have to become more self-sufficient, grow our own workforce and create opportunities right here at home.”

A Community Investment

The Skilled Trades Center reflects the community’s continued investment in its students and in the future of Northwest Oklahoma.

“While this building is a great thing for Woodward, it’s something that 50 years from now we’ll still look back at,” Holt said. “It’s a testament, I think, to the people out here, their belief that our kids can be successful whether they go to a career or go to college, and that career tech is a pathway to that.”

Holt credited HPTC’s current and former staff members, local Board of Education members, community partners, architect CWA, general contractor Jodi Hall Construction and the local banks that have supported the technology center.

HPTC instructional and maintenance staff members were also heavily involved in planning the facility. Their input helped the project remain close to its original plans and come in under budget.

For Holt, however, the most important part of the Skilled Trades Center is not the building itself—it is what will happen inside it.

Through hands-on training, expanded programs and new career pathways, the facility will help students take ownership of their futures while strengthening the workforce and communities of Northwest Oklahoma for generations to come.