FLORISSANT, Mo. –  Big news for the St. Louis Community College campus at Florissant Valley as a new state-of-the-art building will help train students in multiple fields.

The facility is called the advanced manufacturing center–and leaders say it will help prepare students for careers in manufacturing, engineering, technology and the technical trades.

Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe and Sam Page, the St. Louis County Executive, were among the dignitaries on hand for the ribbon cutting. 

The facility is one of six new buildings on the four Saint Louis Community College campuses to open this year as a result of proposition R. Voters approved the measure in 2021—allowing for an eight-cent tax increase to improve St. Louis Community College campuses.

“About 60% of Missourians don’t end up going to a traditional four-year school. That’s a huge amount of people we can work with to get them into a great career and a great effort. A lot of those kids would come to a community college and then decide to go to a 4 year school,” said Governor Mike Kehoe.

The center has been under construction since August of 2023. 

There are multiple hands-on training labs in the new facility for fields like HVAC, welding, electronics and biomedical equipment repair. 

There is also a specific part of the building to train students for jobs with Boeing in the areas of sheet metal and composites.