At a ceremony today in Camarillo, local dignitaries celebrated the grand opening of a new, state-of-the-art classroom that represents the exciting future of career technical education in Ventura County. The brand new TECH (Test & Evaluation Collaboration Hub) Center is a high-tech immersive environment that teaches students about aviation by putting them in the pilot's seat. The TECH Center recreates a modern control center, where students can guide remotely piloted vehicles on exciting missions anywhere in the world.

Located at the Ventura County Office of Education's Career Education Center near the Camarillo Airport, the classroom is the first one of its kind in the state of California. It is the result of a successful partnership between the Ventura County Office of Education, the Oxnard Union High School District and the U.S. Department of Defense Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division. The TECH Center will help prepare middle and high school students for a range of private industry, government civilian, and military careers aligned with engineering, aviation, and test and evaluation.

Designed as a collaborative learning environment, the TECH Center allows students to develop knowledge in systems engineering, project management, and mathematical analysis using physics-based virtual learning simulators. Additionally, the TECH Center will be used to support Point Mugu Navy training and local college and university courses. As part of the experience, students will conduct a myriad of missions flying unmanned aerial vehicles, jets, and helicopters. Through evolving missions, students will learn the specifications of their aircraft, plan surveys using maps, analyze terrain and weather information, and determine cost impacts of operations.

High resolution photos of the TECH Center and today’s ceremony are available at https://goo.gl/hk4wLU.