Superintendent Jack Shell envisioned in 1978 that 12,000 students would one day attend classes at Davis Applied Technology Center.
His dream was ambitious, considering less than 1,000 students enrolled that year.But Shell's vision is nearly reality now. Which means it's a good time for him to resign, he says. Shell leaves this month to take a position with a small technology school in Arizona.
Under his direction, the center has grown from 980 students to more than 7,000. Its campus has expanded from two 10,000 square-foot buildings to several buildings on 65 acres.
"We're about halfway through the building and construction plan I had envisioned," he said. "Now it's time for me to go and do the same somewhere else."
Shell took over at the DATC when it was called Davis School District Vocational Training School. The school offered five programs, ranging from auto body repair to welding. It currently offers 18 courses of study and has satellite programs in three Davis County high schools, two hospitals and a nursing home.
"I knew vocational education was viable; it just needed to take root," Shell said.
The center has also become a customized training school for Utah employers. More than 2,000 employees from 100 different companies received training last year to improve their job skills.
Shell attributes the center's success to quality instructors and programs that placed students in jobs upon graduation. His colleagues, however, say Shell influenced DATC's development more than anything else.
"He had an uncanny ability to recognize talent and hire quality. He was the best at knowing the worth of a person and acquiring him or her," said Raymond G. Briscoe, who serves on the center's board.
Shell also was an excellent lobbyist at the Legislature, Briscoe said.
"It takes money to build and he got it," he said. "When I began serving on the board, (DATC) was just a small operation. I now think it will be a junior college someday."
A committee, composed of three state school board members and four DATC board members, will select a replacement for Shell during the next several months. "A lot of people are going to miss him," Briscoe said.
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(Chart)
Growth at DATC
Number of students
1978 986
1988 4,223
1992 7,092