A Word from Mayor Mary: Pekin, IL – A Hub for Career and Technical Education
Dec 26, 2024 07:42AM ● By Mayor Mary
The Pekin community has long been a great center for career and technical education in many fields of work, and we add another notch to our belt this month with the opening of River Academy of Vocational Education (RAVE), a brand new healthcare program located in our very own downtown. RAVE is an 1,100 square foot training facility located at 328 S 4th St, Suite B, offering Certified Nursing Assistant programs as well as CPR courses. They have classroom space as well as a skills lab with set-ups for both nursing home and hospital styles of care. RAVE aims to support the community it serves by increasing the workforce with successful graduates of the academy’s programs who will provide exceptional care and services to the public while simultaneously improving their own lives with vocational education. This important mission was brought to reality by one of Pekin’s own, Tabitha Reeise, who is using her 20 years of experience in healthcare to create a workforce multiplier in an affordable and flexible way. Tuition for the CNA program is only $1,270 including textbooks, equipment, uniform, and the State exam fee, and classes are offered in both traditional and hybrid formats and range from 6 to 16 weeks. With RAVE’s first class scheduled to graduate on April 1, 2025, we could not be prouder or more thankful of Tabitha’s work.
Tabitha’s efforts are stacked on top of a tall collection of excellent career programs in Pekin. Hopefully everyone is aware of Pekin Community High School’s CTE program, one of the best in the state, where students get hands-on education and exposure to industries of all kinds through the program’s key involvement in organizations like the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council’s Strategic Manufacturing Group and Junior Achievement of Central Illinois. Pekin High has its own career center with 22 teachers and 83 classes just for Pekin students – last year 82% of students were enrolled in at least one CTE course with many enrolled in several at once.
Let’s also never forget the groundbreaking work being done by Illinois Central College. Their IT Workforce Accelerator and custom apprenticeship/certificate programs are just two examples of their commitment to providing the region with high-level career-focused educational opportunities, and Pekin’s partnership with their campus in the Riverway Business Park only grows stronger each year.
Beyond the classroom, SkillsUSA Illinois is headquartered in Pekin and provides real-world opportunities for students to engage with employers to learn skills and gain experience. Their commitment to preparing students for the workforce was recognized in a big way this year when they were awarded approximately $8 million of the State’s $53 million budget initiative for CTE programs, which will directly support apprenticeship programs and the expansion of SkillsUSA Illinois to a bigger and better location in Pekin.
CTE programs in Pekin offer excellent education and opportunity for people in our community to prepare for their future or even transform their lives, and those programs are especially impactful when they are created from the ground up by people in the field like Tabitha. We thank her and all our local partners for their commitment to Pekin.