When Herman Locklear dreamed up plans for a new Robeson County school focused on preparing students for skilled trades, he kept his expectations in check.
But the new $87.2 million Robeson Career and Technical Education Center that opened to students Monday exceeded Locklear’s hopes.
The 2.5-acre campus replaces the 50-year-old Robeson County Career Center in Lumberton, which had about half the space. It features 15 classrooms and four labs. Students can choose between 14 programs, including plumbing and electrical, masonry, computer engineering, automotive technology, welding, and graphic and webpage design.
“I think it’s going to change the mindset of our students,” said Locklear, the career and technical education director for Public Schools of Robeson County. “They’re going to feel like they’re important when they walk through that door, because we chose to put this kind of facility there, that we spent that kind of money to educate them.”
The center is a big deal in Robeson County, which hasn’t opened a new high school in 43 years. It also represents a growing demand among students for practical skills that can lead to good-paying jobs. Nationally, many students are questioning the value of a four-degree degree.
More K-12 students participate in career and technical education in North Carolina than any other state except Nebraska, according to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. North Carolina students earned nearly 383,000 industry-recognized credentials in the 2024-2025 school year, a record high. Robeson County students earned nearly 4,000, according to a statewide report.
In Robeson, one of the poorest counties in the state, officials hope the new school will prepare students for much-needed jobs–especially as more people reach retirement age.
“We need these people to come in and fill those roles,” said mechatronics teacher Courtney Locklear.
Robeson County school leaders had envisioned a new career and technical center for years, but there was a problem: money. Finally, construction began in 2022 when the district secured a $62 million grant from the state’s Needs-Based Public School Capital Fund. It also got $5 million from state legislators and used $2.5 million from its own coffers. The county and the school district split the remaining cost.
The Robeson Career and Technical Education Center is designed to enroll about 720 students. (The old center had a capacity for about 400.) School leaders hope to grow enrollment to roughly 1,000 when they expand business and workforce classes. Local businesses, for example, can work with the school to train students on specific skills.
Enrolled students attend classes at their regular high school for half the day and spend the other half at the center.
School principal Mark Smith said the new school is a dream come true. He also led the old facility.
“I didn’t think it would actually happen, but look at where we are now,” he said. “It just fulfills me.”
Timmy Locklear, the school’s plumbing instructor who taught at the former center, said groups of four or five students often had to share work spaces. That’s no longer the case.
“We’ve all waited so long to have this space, and have the equipment and space to help students get to work,” Locklear said. “This is like a million dollars to me, having new updated equipment to work with that is exactly like the real thing they’d be doing in the workforce.”
The facility also houses the Planetarium and Science Center, which was flooded during Hurricane Matthew in 2016. The new planetarium has a 40-foot dome and 76 seats where visitors can see videos in 8K resolution.
“This is really its own universe,” said planetarium director Kenneth Brandt.
The school district hosted an open house at the new school over the weekend. Carla Locklear, whose grandson is a senior at the center, also brought along her 9-year-old grandson Lukyan Revels. He wants to learn how to build and repair cars.
“This is really something to look forward to,” he said.