Last school year was the first year the East Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT) opened its Fountain Hills campus on the site of the previous Four Peak Elementary School.

Now in its sophomore year the campus is experiencing steady growth both in student population and businesses.

Currently there are 149 students enrolled in EVIT programs both at the high school and the new EVIT campus compared to 112 students last year.

Principal Craig Pearson anticipates that this growth in student body will continue as they attract students from districts outside of Fountain Hills.

“Obviously, we would love to see greater growth,” Pearson said. “But with all the turmoil in Scottsdale last year, it was difficult to get them to understand this was a central campus. Now that things have settled down, we are hoping we can make some inroads with the schools.”

Pearson believes that by next year the Fountain Hills campus will have half a population of students from Fountain Hills and half from Scottsdale. Currently, a handful of students from Desert Mountain attend the local campus.

One of the ways EVIT attempts to educate nearby residents about the school is having people from all parts of the community, like realtors, tour EVIT.

The other way to get more students from outside Fountain Hills is to make sure the students from Desert Mountain are relaying a positive experience to their classmates.

“When those students go back to Desert Mountain in the morning and have class there, we want them to say good things about the programs,” on-site administrator Bruce Hasley said. “Then their friends who didn’t even realize we’re here, hear about us.”

Student feedback to EVIT has been strong, according to Pearson.

“Students love it,” Pearson said. “The students absolutely love the atmosphere and they love the fact we are directly focusing on our programs.”

EVIT currently offers two fields of study for students at the Fountain Hills campus including health careers and graphic information technology. Pearson is looking to get cybersecurity brought to the campus, too.

“With all the tech companies that are in Scottsdale, we want to get a cybersecurity program up and running,” Pearson said. “We couldn’t do it this year because there weren’t enough students, but I am hoping next year we can get it going.”

Currently the EVIT Fountain Hills campus is using 10,000 of the 68,000 square feet of the facility. Pearson believes the school will grow, but never fully take up the space.

Instead of letting the space go to waste, though, EVIT rents it out to businesses and organizations that are looking for minimal overhead.

There are a handful of businesses occupying spaces on the campus currently, such as a watchmaking business that is looking to bring watch manufacturing back to America, and a medical machines inventor.

Having businesses and the school in the same building allows the students and business owners to have mutually beneficial relationships with one another.

For example, photography students took pictures of the watches for a catalog and the medical machines inventor guest lectured at the nursing class.

“We are always looking for business and industry partners that can tie into our programs,” Pearson said. “Businesses that a lot of our students can gain real world experience from as well as give something back to the students.”

Pearson and the rest of EVIT Fountain Hills are excited to see the campus progress in the coming years.