From left, Indiana Secretary of Education Dr. Katie Jenner, Gov. Mike Braun and Central Nine Executive Director Bill Kovach discussed the EMS and fire and rescue classes at Central Nine Career Center on Tuesday afternoon. (Photo/Anna Cecil of TheStatehouseFile.com)
By Anna Cecil TheStatehouseFile.com February 16, 2026
As high-school students wearing scrubs and mechanic’s jumpsuits scurried in and out of the lobby at Central Nine Career Center in Greenwood on Tuesday afternoon, a small group of school board members, journalists, student tour guides and state-employed videographers stood anxiously awaiting the arrival of a special guest—and he was running late.
Bill Kovach, executive director of Central Nine, warned the students they should be ready to start their tour right away. But Avelyn Mcgraine and Kelsey Chase weren’t nervous.
“He’s still just a person,” they said.
Finally, the guest, Gov. Mike Braun, made his arrival. Alongside Indiana Secretary of Education Dr. Katie Jenner, the highest ranking government official in Indiana was making a rare visit to Central Nine to see students in action learning trades and acquiring skills that could catapult them into higher education or a career they’re passionate about.
“The governor is not a frequent visitor,” Kovach said. He added that, to his knowledge, no Indiana governor has visited the center since Gov. Evan Bayh in the 1990s.
Yet high-ranking government officials are constantly drafting, debating and ultimately codifying legislation that impacts educational entities like Central Nine. This session alone, at least 40 bills were filed by members of the General Assembly that directly impact education in Indiana.
So while Braun visited to put a human face on a vaulted office, Kovach and his students all said they hoped what the governor saw at their school would stick with him after he headed back to the Statehouse.
Taking a tour and talking to students
The “speed run” tour, as one crowd member called it, started with a quick stop in the dental classroom, where students in scrubs of all different colors were studying dental anatomy. Jenner even paused for a quick look at one young dental aspirant’s paper.
Next the group was whisked into the HVAC center, where Braun learned a thing or two about air-conditioner repair from student Thomas Atle.
“Are you going to try to fix your own AC?” Jenner jokingly asked Braun as he listened to Atle’s presentation.
After the lesson in HVAC, the sound of sirens and the glare of flashing lights grew nearer, signifying that the crew’s next stop would be to the emergency medical services (EMS) and fire and rescue classes.
EMS students practiced for emergency situations in a simulated ambulance that looks almost exactly those one might see rushing down Washington Street outside the Indiana Statehouse. Fire and rescue students showed Braun and Jenner how to suit up for a fire drill, put out the flames and save an injured person at the scene. They even had a real fire truck from Nineveh County equipped with a hose that sprayed water.
After the fire simulation, the visitors travelled to see welding and automotive-repair students.
Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner learned about a dispatch activity from student Avery Richey in the criminal justice class at Central Nine Career Center in February. (Photo/Anna Cecil of TheStatehouseFile.com)
As the tour made its stops, Braun spoke with most of the instructors and occasionally a student but did not give any official press availability to the three reporters in attendance.
But as the group briskly walked from class to class, Jenner lagged behind, stopping to chat with students wherever she could. She got her blood pressure taken by the EMS class, toured a tiny house in the construction center—a stop that wasn’t even on the tour’s agenda—and became pretty good friends with a dog named Ivy while visiting the veterinary science room.
“This is not my typical pace,” she said as she caught back up with the tour. “I like to talk to the students.”
Jenner, a long-time educator, chatted with those students in typical teacher fashion. During the tour’s final stop, she crouched down at a desk next to criminal justice student Avery Richey and watched while Richey and her table worked on a dispatch activity.
“My favorite part of any visit is talking to the students, hearing really what they learn,” Jenner told TheStatehouseFile.com. “I feel like 95% of the students were all in and energized about ‘This is my passion, my purpose. I want to keep going.’”
Chase said that when she first started the criminal justice track at Central Nine, she wanted to be a police officer. Now she wants to be a lawyer, and she said she uses her education at Central Nine to get some early college credit.
Chase was able to share with Braun during a one-on-one conversation with him that she graduated from her high school in December but is still attending Central Nine.
“It says a lot when I am choosing to come to school,” she said. “I hope that they can see the opportunities that C9 (Central Nine) really brings.”
And ultimately, that Jenner and Braun’s firsthand observations turn into action at the Statehouse.
“A lot of times, people at the Statehouse or in government have an idea of what they want or they believe would be the best thing for schools or any other entity, but they never step foot into a place like this,” Kovach said. “For them to come, get the tour, see eight, nine, 10 programs, it gives them a visual of what it’s like and what the kids actually experience.
“Then they take that back and have a better understanding and maybe make some policies that would be more appropriate or better for us.”
Anna Cecil is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
