An institution in the Perry community is seeking to advance their learning opportunities during the current school year.

Eddie Diaz has been the director of the Des Moines Area Community College VanKirk Career Academy, in Perry, since 2018. He shares that approximately 200 students are enrolled at the VanKirk Academy for the 2024-25 year. Diaz tells Raccoon Valley Radio that DMACC is constantly identifying ways to improve courses to better prepare students for future careers. He highlights the Applied Engineering Program, which has been remodeled and relaunched as the Industrial Technician Program for the past year, and what caused that course name change.

“Really focused on providing industrial maintenance opportunities for young people to explore working in (a) manufacturing sector to help them gain skills to fix big machinery that’s needed in the industry.”

Diaz emphasizes that the goal of DMACC is to supply students with experiences in high demand fields, as he notes the VanKirk Career Academy specializes in healthcare, wielding, education, criminal justice, among others. Diaz states that DMACC is the largest community college institution in the state of Iowa, as they house six campuses and six learning centers, including Perry.