Instructor Steve Staley demonstrates TIG welding during an evening class at Hagerstown Community College. Photo by Colleen McGrath
COMMUNITY
EDUCATING AN EMERGING WORKFORCE Vocational schools, colleges teach students how to become valuable employees
written by MEG H. PARTINGTON Both the knowledge and hands-on experience needed in the skilled trades have shifted, causing regional schools to reconfigure the ways they educate the emerging workforce. While their areas of expertise are wide-ranging, several area vocational schools and colleges are finding a common need to teach students the basics of what it means to be a valuable employee. “I’ve seen a real change in the expectation of work,” said Jim Duffey, administrative director of the Franklin County
Career and Technology Center in Chambersburg, Pa.“Students today are not quite as ready for work.” The students in grades 10 to 12 who attend FCCTC are given lessons on responsibility, such as showing up on time and how to communicate effectively with co-workers and supervisors. More than 1,000 students are expected to participate in the programs at Franklin County CTC this coming school year, Duffey added. “We tell the kids they are coming to work,” said Duffey, who is in his second stint as director and has been with the school for a total of 14 years. Classes are run like business-
