Coon Rapids, MN - The Midwest Preservation Institute (MPI), an educational resource center of Anoka-Ramsey Community College, gives new meaning to the phrase “hands-on training.”

Established one year ago in the college’s Continuing Education and Customized Training division, MPI provides practical training in the proper care and maintenance of historic structures. Its focus on practical skills makes it a one-of-a-kind training institute in the Midwest. Now, thanks to partnerships with area preservationists, MPI doesn’t just prepare students for preservation work. Students have a chance to conduct restoration work on area historic structures as a part of their training.

In November, MPI delivered a two-day customized training session in preservation techniques at the Women in Construction headquarters in Duluth, Minn. The hands-on training included tours of the ongoing restoration of Alicia’s Place, a century-old former convent being transformed into apartments for homeless women and children.

The ice box of the Cummins-Grill Homestead, a historic structure built in the 1880s owned by the City of Eden Prairie, will be a hands-on training ground for students attending the Winter Institute of Anoka-Ramsey Community College’s Midwest Preservation Institute. The week-long training program, scheduled for April 2006, will teach historic masonry conservation and historic wood construction.

Funding for the workshops was provided by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the City of Duluth, and the Duluth branch of the Local Initiative Services Corp. This financing allowing more than two dozen area residents the chance to learn preservation techniques for $45 per day. Some of the workshop’s students are among those hired to do the restoration work on Alicia’s Place.

“The best thing about this event, was seeing that other people in the Duluth area are as passionate about saving some of our historic buildings as we are,” said Tad Johnson of Duluth, who wrote a thank you letter to express how pleased he was with the training. “Thank you for brining such a great workshop on historic preservation to Duluth.”

In April, 2006, MPI’s Winter Institute will deliver a five-day intensive program on historic masonry conservation and historic wood construction. The intensive experiential training program will incorporate restoration of a historic structure in Eden Prairie, Minn., the ice box of the Cummins-Grill Homestead, built in the 1880s. Students will actually do some of the restoration work, using the skills they are learning in the institute.

Winter Institute instructors are recognized leaders in historic preservation. The historic masonry program will be taught by mason and stone carver Mark Wickstrom, who also serves as apprenticeship coordinator for Bricklayers and Allied Craft workers Local Union 1, for Minnesota and North Dakota. The historic wood program will be taught by wood specialist and owner of Turning Point Woodworks Tom Guelcher.

MPI director Sherry Butcher says one week of the Winter Institute may be filled with women in construction and the trades. A local entrepreneurial advocacy group, WomenVenture, is weighing the possibility of securing funding for tuition for its affiliates. “We’re hoping to have a class of up to 15 women, when it all comes together,” Butcher says.

Space is still available for others wanting to attend the Winter Institute. Tuition for the week is $1,200, and includes lunches. To register, or for more information, visit MPI’s Web site at www.anokaramsey.edu/continuinged/midwest_preservation_institute.cfm, or call 763.433.1200.

About Anoka-Ramsey Community College
Anoka-Ramsey Community College, with campuses in Coon Rapids and Cambridge, has been a leading provider of higher education and training in the north suburban area of Minneapolis/St. Paul and East Central Minnesota since 1965. Annually, the college serves more than 9,700 learners of all ages as they pursue associate degrees that transfer as the first two years of a bachelor's degree, or certificate programs that lead immediately to rewarding careers. ARCC is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System.