It’s well known that Middletown’s legacy stands as a manufacturing haven. Steel and paper mills provided stable working-class employment and attracted people from Appalachia and other regions to settle there. Producing goods, equipment, and materials remains essential to the economy and identity of the city, which has slightly more than 50,000 residents.

However, these aren’t your father’s production facilities. Automation and AI have transformed the manufacturing sector, with specialized skills and training often of greater importance than brawn. It’s increasingly untenable for employees to staff the same spot on the line for an entire career. With manufacturing technology continually evolving, it’s a necessity for workers of all ages to receive the training necessary to adapting skills to what the workforce of the future requires.

The upside of the need for more specialized training to attain such jobs is that it’s more readily available, and considerable opportunity exists. For decades, the default educational mission was preparing all students to attend college, and vocational and technical instruction withered. However, that paradigm has shifted, and more resources are allocated toward this type of postsecondary instruction.

Administrators at Butler Tech, which will celebrate its 50^th anniversary next year and operates campuses in Middletown and Liberty Township, just broke ground on a Middletown aviation-education facility that will open in January 2026, which will expand opportunities available through Butler Tech's high-school and adult education offerings.

Kristen Abudakar, the director of Butler Tech’s Liberty Township campus, noted that Butler Tech serves approximately 1,700 students annually across all fields of study, but has to turn away approximately 1,500 applicants due to capacity.

Representing a vital need as the large Baby Boomer population ages, health care training and certification provides entry into another high-demand field. Sarah DeLong, Butler Tech’s associate director of health programs, who has prior experience as a nurse-practitioner, said the program has 200 students in 14 health care-training disciplines, such as nursing, phlebotomy, medical assistant training, and medical billing and coding.

Nick Linberg, Butler Tech’s senior director of strategic planning, who supervises the institution’s adult-education programs, said the school’s program produces 200 to 250 students annually trained as welders, HVAC repair professionals, and industrial maintenance technicians.

“Through Jobs Ohio and other workforce-development programs in the state, all of our programs are in demand and growing,” Linberg said. “For adults training for new careers and professional development, manufacturing automation and robotics are programs that are emerging fields. Even in a welding-certification program, you’re learning aspects of working with robotic tools.”

Nick Linberg, Butler Tech senior director of strategic planning.He added, “We have hospital network reps coming in saying, ‘We’ll hire every STNA [state-trained nurse’s aide] and medical assistant you can produce,’ so it’s important for our programs to adapt to what the market demands.”

With robust manufacturing and distribution apparatus throughout Middletown, Monroe, and Butler, CDL certification programs and logistics training are also programs preparing students for future productive careers. Linberg credited Cleveland Cliffs (Middletown’s legacy steel manufacturer, formerly known as ARMCO and AK Steel) with being an engaged partner and supporter of the program.

Abudakar said that “futureproofing” Butler Tech’s programs is an institutional priority: “Throughout all our programs, we’re constantly looking ahead to prepare our students for jobs that will be in high demand 10 years from now. Our industry partners play a valuable role in helping us prepare our students for high-demand careers.”

The aviation-education program expansion in Middletown represents a pivotal step in merging future professionals’ opportunities and community demand. Middletown’s economic-development office and its airport manager spoke recently about the opportunities provided by training to work with unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) such as drones, as well as providing the foundation for careers in aerospace engineering, aviation maintenance, and related fields.

Kristen Abudakar, Butler Tech campus director“Currently, we have 75 students per year between all grades in the aviation-education program,” Abudakar said. “This year, we had 80 applications for entry into the program, which begins in 10^th grade, but only were able to take 27 through a lottery process. With the new facility, we expect to accommodate between 150 and 200 students, so the new facility will increase opportunities.” The 3-year program, which currently primarily takes students entering 10^th grade, culminates in an opportunity to receive FAA certification for aviation maintenance. Abudakar said that one driver for the new Aviation Education Hangar is to provide more opportunities for adults to learn the trade.

Middletown was prioritized for the Hangar because it’s been designated an Opportunity Zone, which was created when Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to facilitate economic development in areas enduring financial difficulty. The facility is being constructed at a cost of $15 million, with $7 million of its provided through Butler County's ARPA funds, $500,000 from the city of Middletown, and the remaining half funded by Butler Tech.

Butler Tech is also trailblazing opportunities for its students with its Advanced Manufacturing  Hub (AMHUB) program in partnership with Miami University, which will provide opportunities to students in the region. Slated to open next year, AMHUB will operate on a 140,000-square-foot campus (with potential to grow to 300,000 sq. ft.) in Hamilton, with Butler Tech and Miami occupying 70,000 square feet apiece.

AMHUB will engage industry partners in the fields of automation, computer networking, robotics, machine learning, welding, and AI. Beginning in 10^th grade, students will have the opportunity to develop advanced technology and engineering skills while enhancing their business savvy, entrepreneurial mindset, and critical thinking applicable to “smart” manufacturing. Through Miami’s College of Engineering and Computing, students will prepare for the manufacturing sector via certification and degree programs in engineering, robotics, and automation.

“Students will be able to take courses from 10^th grade through Ph.D.-level classes on one campus,” Abudakar said. “Corporate and community organization partnerships are reshaping the future of education. In the post-COVID world, parents and students are demanding broader curriculum choices, and we’re striving to bring kids in at every level and be prepared for additional education or the workforce.”

In any field, navigating AI’s capabilities and pitfalls is an essential component of instruction. Linberg said, “[AI] will be part of every aspect of tomorrow’s workers’ lives. We focus on giving them access and teaching them how to use it properly, and being mindful of teaching its capabilities in a positive manner and how to use it responsibly to enhance work and learning.”

Sarah DeLong, Butler Tech associate director of health-education programs.Instructional techniques must be continually leveraged to optimize students’ abilities, and with vocational training, relevant field instruction is especially important. DeLong said, “With health care training, exams and labs are being reworked to include more simulations to better replicate real-life scenarios to reduce patient errors for first-year nurses, with a greater emphasis on critical thinking and externships … and practice what they’ve been learning and having networking opportunities with possible future employers.”

A common thread through millennial, Gen Z, and younger generations is entrepreneurial drive that entails holistic ownership of a role commensurate with a skilled workforce. Butler Tech has opened an entrepreneurial center, which helps students master soft skills, as well as resume writing and interview preparation, to better engage with the workplace and become more well-rounded.

“Employers want a more skilled, prepared workforce, which helps with employee retention,” Abudakar said. “But by that same token, younger workers simply change jobs more often, and we also to prepare them to be adaptable and more likely to succeed in any field.”

The numbers affirm that Butler Tech’s program is working. For the last six years, it’s achieved a 99% or 100% graduation rate. Abudakar said, “Once our students arrive in our program and are exposed to a wider range of opportunities than a typical high school education provides, they become more motivated and invested," she said. "We have students arriving from all sorts of backgrounds, but we set the same bar for everyone, and they usually rise to it.”

You can read earlier articles in the Soapbox Partner City Middletown series here.

The Soapbox Partner City Middletown series is made possible with support from Cincinnati Commercial Contracting (CCC) and the Middletown Chamber of Commerce serving Middletown, Monroe and Trenton.