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FAIRFIELD, IOWA -- Representatives of education throughout Southeast Iowa gathered in Fairfield Tuesday to celebrate the opening of the Fairfield Area Career Academy.

Indian Hills Community College, the Cardinal, Fairfield and Harmony school districts and area businesses have worked closely over the last few years to identify student and job needs in the area and develop a program to help students succeed.

The Fairfield Academy targets three areas of concentration: business and finance, industrial maintenance technology and health occupations.

Juniors and seniors in high school can attend the academy to gain college credit and prepare for a career, at no cost to their families. The program is something educations say will go a long way towards providing the economy with skilled laborers to take positions in fields projected to grow in the coming years.

"We think it's going to set our students up for future success, they're earning college credit right now while they're still in high school, they're coming out of this with the equivalent of a year of college done, paid for, at no cost to the parents and students and they're also getting a jump start on a number of growing careers," said Fairfield Superintendent Art Sathoff.

"The thing that I like to see - we've had a couple of academies that have been open for a while - and our very first academy, one of our first graduates got his high school diploma, a diploma from Indian Hills and a job from Vermeer's in the same day," said Dr. Jim Lindenmayer, President of Indian Hills Community College. "That's what's really neat when you see that success and you think about how that can really change a family, from having a young person being languished and being unemployed to making them a taxpayer and a contributor, it's really powerful and if we can do that region-wide, that's what I'd like to see."

Dr. Lindenmayer said the academies of Indian Hills - in Fairfield, Oskaloosa and elsewhere - are unique in that each one offers different programs targeting the needs of the community and what jobs are needed in that specific area.

This academic year, 75 juniors and seniors are enrolled in the Fairfield academy.