 Red Lake Nation is expanding its educational services with a new vocational school in Red Bee. Hedy Quatter has that story. A little rain didn't stop the Red Lake Nation from celebrating the grand opening of its latest accomplishment. The Institute of Technology can be added to the list of services Ashki Majatata provides including family assistance. Our whole mission here is creating opportunities, breaking down barriers. Ashki Majatata translates to new beginnings and the vocational school wants to give that to students. Those that don't go off to college will now have another option. Certified nursing technicians, safe serve. We also boil our tech training. We do CDL training. Courses include basic welding like these current students and welding with an entrepreneur portion. The goal is to put students into the workforce. Pipeliner, you can be a structural welder, you can go be a welder's helper. The welding world is pretty vast, it's deep, so you can apply these skills of countless positions. It costs nearly half a million dollars for the school that wasn't covered through a loan or grant. Instead the tribal employment rights ordinance covered the costs. Students also bid on jobs and perform those jobs by using this portable welding rig. It's the only one that I've seen up in this part of the country. It has the capacity to run four to five different welders off of it at one time. So it's an amazing machine. It takes 180 and 240 hours to complete Welding 1 and 2. The primary focus is to give the students skills so they can move on into their career. The next welding class will consist of working with industries in Redby, Hady Clotter, Lakeland News. The welding program has a 70% graduation rate and 20% job placement rate. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.