Des Moines Area Community College will be opening a career academy in Ames.

During the day, the career academy will be used for high school students to take career and technical classes.

At night, it will hold DMACC classes currently held at Ames High School.

High school students will be offered classes in nursing, manufacturing, possibly even automotive classes. Seven Story County high schools are offered career and technical programs at DMACC.

“We wanted to make a centralized building for those high schools,” said Dan Ivis, media liaison for DMACC.

High school students will receive school credit for the classes they take at the career academy.

Students at Iowa State had different opinions about the DMACC career academy opening.

“It wouldn’t really make a difference to me,” said Jenny Casey, senior in mechanical engineering.

“I’d still take my classes at Iowa State.”

Other students say they would benefit from the night-course offerings.

“I have taken a class from DMACC before,” said Catie Maloney, senior in communication studies.

“If the building would have been open when I was doing my general education classes, I may have taken some classes at DMACC.”

Ivis said the career academy will be located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 30 and Interstate 35.

The Hunziker family, owners of an Ames real estate company, donated the land to the community college, he said.

Construction on the building has already started, and is scheduled for completion in about a year.

“They will try to have the building open a year from January if everything goes well,” Ivis said.