6.13.24 – Jen Schottke – President, West Michigan Construction Institute – Annual Membership Meeting

This meeting will also be our Annual Membership Meeting to elect Club directors (via ballot vote) and conduct other club business.

Jen Schottke – President, West Michigan Construction Institute

Speaker Topic: Updates Coming Soon!

Bio:

Jen Schottke is president of the West Michigan Construction Institute (WMCI), a leading commercial construction trade school located in the Roosevelt Park neighborhood near downtown Grand Rapids. WMCI serves a diverse student population from high school juniors and seniors to seasoned industry professionals.

Under her leadership, WMCI launched in January 2022 following a successful $6 million capital campaign and will be expanding its facility in 2024 to accommodate new labs and classrooms.

Schottke’s commitment extends beyond the classroom as she actively engages in student outreach, collaborates within the K-12 and higher education systems, and champions the commercial construction sector on a regional scale.

“At the entrance of WMCI, we have a hardhat donor wall thanking the over 150 contractors and individuals who made WMCI possible through their generosity. We were all aligned in the mission of celebrating the value of the trade professional pathway and that made the way for the work we do today,” she said. “In our two short years of operation, we’ve tripled our high school enrollments and received state approval to be a high school Career and Technical Education program, thanks to our partnership with Kent ISD. We’ve tripled our adult craft training enrollments and grew from instructing in two trades to now instructing in five trades and (are) adding more in 2024-2025.”

Schottke is a member of the Grand Rapids Downtown Development Authority and the workforce development board West Michigan Works!, and serves as treasurer of the Grand Rapids Public Schools Board of Education.