Mountainland Applied Technology College is having growing pains.

There are approximately 13,000 students enrolled in MATC courses with 72 percent of them juniors and seniors in high school, and more are enrolling every year. MATC is a vocational and technical trade college that teaches students skills to enter the working world. The college offers a variety of majors including health care, automotive and computer certification.

"MATC has been growing 10 to 15 percent every year over the last four to five years," said Robert Brems, MATC Campus President. "We're growing out of space."

Because classrooms have been getting a little crowded, a new campus is opening in Spanish Fork and land will be purchased at Thanksgiving Point for another one.

Brems said MATC has had a strong presence in Spanish Fork for the past five years, while it operated out of the Nebo School District along with some other programs being taught out of borrowed space from empty classrooms at local schools. But it was time for everything to be under the same roof. The new college is 37,000 square feet.

The new college will be opening across the street from the American Leadership Academy, just in time for the fall 2006 semester, which has some people excited.

"It's really beneficial for the school," said Krystin Morley, a board member for the American Leadership Academy. "The new schools makes a college education more accessible to a lot of students who normally wouldn't have that opportunity."

She said she thinks it will be safer to have the college across the street from the school so parents won't have to worry about kids driving back and forth to learn.

"Students are able to leave class for about a two-hour block," said Mark Middlebrook, director of marketing and development for MATC. "It's a long drive and sometimes is almost impossible for them to participate. We wanted to help all the districts and we needed the building to fill the needs of the Nebo School District."

Morley said the school opens many opportunities, even for the students who aren't sure what career they're interested in.

"I would have loved to graduate with my diploma and associate degree all at the same time," she said.

Some of the newer programs MATC has recently added include pharmacy technician, diesel mechanic, medical coding and medical transcriptions.

"We give them skills immediately," Middlebrook said. "We teach students the skills necessary to obtain a job."

Middlebrook said the college lets students experience a job before they get there to help determine if it is something they really want to go into.

"These schools are stepping stones that allow them to move forward in their profession," he said.

Brooke Porter, a senior college student taking EMT courses at MATC, said she will use what she learned at MATC to go on to medical school.

"I'm a BYU student but I wanted to take a EMT course," she said. "EMT seemed like the best route for medical school because I can use what I learned there and apply it to working in an ambulance or ER."

Porter said BYU offers a EMT course but she chose to take it through MATC because it was significantly less expensive.

Clint Moore, a junior college student taking Chef Prep courses, said he went to MATC because the class sizes were smaller than other schools.

"I was very impressed with the teaching and one-on-one interaction with students," he said. "The teachers were great. It's an all together awesome experience. I always had a fun time."

Middlebrook said MATC hopes to buy the property at Thanksgiving Point for the newest campus by next month to fill the needs of north Utah County. The Utah Legislature has budgeted $3.25 million for the . The school will need $1.25 million more in donations from the community to complete the purchase. Sometime next year, MATC will request funding to build a

If all goes well, Middlebrook said the first building should open in time for the fall 2008 semester.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A10.