By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN

dobrien@dailynews.net

The opportunity to attend classes close to home in a program of their choice is just a part of what North Central Kansas Technical College has to offer area students.

But Nathan Meier and Cole Younger will tell you that particular element was a big factor in their decision where to continue their education after high school.

Meier and Younger were two of 53 students who received certificates at Saturday's 2009 graduation ceremonies for the Hays campus.

Twenty-nine more students were honored for earning associate degrees at the ceremony at Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center in Fort Hays State University's Sheridan Hall.

Meier and Younger represented the success that is generated from the Hays programs.

At the Skills USA State Championships at Wichita last month, the Ellis County duo finished first and second, respectively, in the residential wiring competition.

"We've had several second-place finishers since I've been here," said instructor Alan Hill, who has been in charge of the program on the Hays campus since its inception here in 1998. "And we did have one winner one year. But we've never had anyone finish first and second in the same (competition) in the same year."

Thanks to the addition of a second year of classes in the residential electricity program in Hays beginning with the 2009-10 school year, Younger has decided to return to school for a second year.

In the past, students wishing to pursue an associate degree in that program had to transfer to Beloit following their first year at Hays.

Now, instead of having to pack up his belongings and move a couple of hours away to the main campus, Younger can continue living at his home in Victoria, just 10 minutes from Hays.

Just last week, the school got the approval from the City of Hays to lease the former U.S. Army Reserve Center on South Main Street, giving the school more space and the opportunity to add the second-year electricity program.

"It's going to be a big deal for a lot of these guys," Hill said. "With this (second-year program) being in Hays, they won't have to move two or three times."

"I also work on a farm," said Younger, who works part-time for Yost Electric, Gorham. "So that was nice for me, being so close here."

A native of Hays, Meier lives even closer to the technical college, just several blocks east of the school on Anthony Street.

Meier was one of the students who helped build an electric truck at Hays High during his senior year, and that sparked an interest in the electricity field.

"I've done a little wiring with my dad in our basement," Meier said, "and my cousin is a lineman, and he likes it."

So he chose to stay close to home and enrolled at NCKTC.

After Meier interned this past semester with RDH Electric in Hays, RDH offered Meier a job for the summer, and he decided to forego a second year of study, although he thought about the second-year program since it now will be in Hays.

"I would have gone to Beloit if they wouldn't have had a program here, because (NCKTC) is a good school," Meier said. "But this way, with it being right down the street, I saved a lot of money."

The first-place winners from the state skills competition qualify for nationals in Kansas City in June. But Meier has decided not to make the trip because of the length of the conference.

Although he thinks it would good experience to compete against some of the nation's best, Meier also knows he will continue to get the hands-on experience on the job with RDH.

"I get to work on a lot of different jobs; it's interesting," said Meier, who will start work full time on Monday. "I'm looking forward to it."