Sumter (WLTX) -- One Midlands college is still offering free scholarships and has a high success rate of employment after graduation.
"A lot of students who like doing things with their hands, they like seeing things created," said Jack Neal, Dean of Industrial and Engineering Technology and Workforce Development at Central Carolina Technical College.
He says the jobs students learn to do at his school are jobs that cannot be out-sourced overseas, cannot be automated, and are unlikely to disappear.
"And it's not a job. What we have is an opportunity for a paying career," he said.
He says CCTC is giving South Carolina employers exactly what they need: skilled workers.
"When our students graduate, there's a job waiting for them. And we have found that to be true. In fact, these employers are recruiting as the students are still in school."
Nine technical programs with hands-on lessons satisfy what Neal says is a local and national deficit of workers in fields like Welding Technology and HVAC.
"Industry, even though it might change, we'll change to meet those needs," he said. The school keeps in touch with employers at various local companies to see how the industries are changing so their students have adapted before graduation.
Last year, more than 60,000 HVAC jobs in our nation went unfilled. When they graduate, these students will be qualified to fill one of those jobs, or one of the 30,000 new technicians jobs that's been created this year.
Of the nine programs, "Seven of the programs had 100 percent job placement this past year," he said.
The other two school programs, Neal says, had 80- and 90 percent placement.
"And those percentages are students who go to work in their field of study."
This year the school is once again giving away one hundred full-tuition scholarships.
"We still have employers looking for employees with the knowledge and skills required to do the work in their plants," he said.
"They continue to grow and it truly is a career."
Learn more about CCTC and their scholarships by contacting Brent Russell at 803-778-6689, Ginger Parker at 803-778-6670 or Barbara Wright at 803-778-6695.
7/16/2009 10:06:49 AM
