<span style="background-color: #ffffff;">It was years in the making, yet, the wait was worth more than most could’ve imagined.</span>

Kankakee Community College’s Advanced Technology Center, ATEC for short, was finally completed in December 2018.

It’s being used this semester for renewable energy classes and will be formally dedicated on April 17.

“We’re excited about it, and we’re eager for this opportunity to tell the story of the facility,” said Michael Boyd, vice president of instruction and student services at KCC.

Paul Carlson, associate dean of business and technology, strolled through the new facility across the polished concrete floors with abundant natural light accenting the structure’s glass and steel.

“We got everything we asked for,” said Carlson, who couldn’t hide his enthusiasm. “Imagine that.”

KCC also has received something else in connection with the center, as it has been named the Innovator in Technology as part of the annual Progress Awards given by the Daily Journal.

The ATEC building, just west of the main entrance to KCC’s riverfront campus, has dedicated labs for wind technology and solar technology.

There’s also a solar panel on the roof of the building, with room for more, that supplies power to the center.

“We’ll also have a segment of the building that is utilized for the national electric code, which is the bible of the electrician’s code substance for every construction, whether it’s domestic or commercial,” Carlson said. “We’ve married that into the building.”

Carlson also pointed out how the ATEC building utilizes geo-thermal power.

“There’s no [natural] gas being used here,” he said.

“I think it’s a little bit of practicing what we preach, kind of living the idea of sustainability and utilizing renewable energy for that purpose,” KCC President John Avendano said.

The 12,000-square-foot center has classrooms and training spaces for wind generation, solar thermal, solar-voltaic systems and electrical instruction. ATEC will allow KCC to double the amount of students in the renewable energy field compared to those already enrolled.

“It offers the opportunity for folks who don’t even really understand the sustainability of renewable energy to come out and put it into practice,” Carlson said. “We don’t have to waste time setting the groundwork, we go right into it.

“All of those programs for solar-voltaic and solar thermal allow our students to learn the basics of the theory, but also enter into the workforce so well-prepared. Not just for the immediate impact on the job market, but long term.”

Clay Sterling, professor in the electrical engineering technology program, said one of the features of the building is a demonstration roof on the second level.

“[It] is built in a fashion that allows us to assemble water heating and solar electric systems, monitor them long term and change them quickly as technologies evolve,” he said.

Five years ago, it looked like ATEC might not ever come to fruition.

“It was a 10-year project in the making, from the original appropriation to the completed project,” Avendano said.

There were a few snags to contend with from Springfield to Chicago. KCC was given approval to build ATEC in the spring of 2014. Most of the groundwork was done in early 2015, but then came the budget impasse between the Illinois Legislature and then-Gov. Bruce Rauner.

“We broke ground in March of 2015 and were told to halt on June 30 of 2015,” Avendano said. “It sat for at least two and half years — until December of 2017.”

Construction was resumed in January 2018 and was finished in 12 months.

“There were actually two construction periods,” said Vicki Gardner, vice president of finance and administration. “The brief one in 2015, and we got all of the underground work done at that point in time. We sat with that cement slab out there until the second construction period, which was about a year long.”

The finished product is one-of-a-kind in Illinois.

“Our students in our academic programs are our priority,” Boyd said. “A secondary objective that we have is we think that the Advanced Technology Education Center can enable regional training. We are one of the only MREA [Midwest Renewable Energy Council] accredited programs in the region. To find another one, you have to go to Madison, Wis.

“We want our students to be served out of those programs, but we also think that the success of our renewable energy programs in the recent past and the construction of ATEC is going to make Kankakee a destination for professional-seeking, professional development in the area of renewable energy and renewable energy training specifically.

“When those professionals visit our community, they’re going to enrich our local economy, and we’re excited about what ATEC can do to enable that sort of professional development region-wide.”

The most recent enrollment numbers showed 105 students enrolled in the renewable energy programs, and Carlson said it’s “not enough.” The new ATEC building will help boost those numbers, and Carlson said he’s proud of what his program’s graduates have accomplished.

“We have students nationally leading the charge in renewable energy,” he said “All the way out in California, some of our graduates are working out there on wind farms.”

Solar and wind projects should continue to experience growth based on what has been constructed in the region and nationally and what has been proposed even here in Kankakee County.

“I can see that as the wave of the future, and our job is to provide the workforce here locally,” Avendano said.

Boyd said ATEC wouldn’t have been possible without the leadership at KCC.

“It was a tough road to get here,” he said. “In a lot of cases, that vision may have been lost or abandon in the face of the challenges they had in front of them with the state budget impasse, et cetera. But our board and Dr. Avendano and Dr. Gardner didn’t give up. They demonstrated persistence, grit and resilience because they knew how important this particular facility was. It’s awesome to see it now.”