By Emily Thornton, Grunion Gazette

Another education option beyond high school is coming to Long Beach in the form of a technical institute. Specifically, the Universal Technical Institute. 

UTI Long Beach’s ribbon cutting will be Aug. 18 by Mayor Robert Garcia, with classes starting the day before, on Aug. 17.

The charter class of enrolled students previewed the facility at 4175 E. Conant St. last week. It is part of the growing Douglas Park industrial area just north of the Long Beach Airport. The group of about 250, including guests, saw the 13 classrooms and 19 labs covering 142,593 square feet.

Areas of study at UTI Long Beach include automotive, diesel, collision repair, as well as auto and diesel combined. There also is Nissan Automotive Technician Training elective that readies students to work on the full line of Nissan and Infiniti models, tools and technologies, as well as smog elective on California campuses. Courses offered vary by UTI campus location and run three to four weeks. Students may enroll any time during the year. Financial aid may be available for qualified students.

There is strong demand for trained workers in the automotive, diesel and collision repair specialties due to Long Beach’s proximity to Southern California’s busy ports, industries and reliance on vehicle travel, said Larry Hohl, president of the new campus. That’s partly why they decided to open a campus in Long Beach.

To continue reading, click here to be directed to the Grunion Gazette.