CLEARFIELD – Lois Richards, executive director of the Clearfield County Career and Technology Center, said the school customizes their course offerings to the needs of local industries.
Richards said all but three of the center’s programs are “high-priority occupations.” She said they are currently working toward the designation for their custom repair, cosmetology and culinary arts programs.
In order to do so, she said they need prospective employers in those three fields, which are located in the North Central Region, to indicate they’re able to hire 35 skilled workers a year for five years. She said they must also indicate they can do so at a family sustaining wage of around $25,400.
“We have many jobs in the six country region that are related to those programs,” she said. “These are growing businesses. I’m hopeful we’ll get the programs on the list.”
Richards said the high-priority occupation designation process wouldn’t get under way until spring. She said they’re now beginning the preliminary work and are working together with both Jeff Tech and Seneca Highlands. She said they’re currently making contacts with local employers.
Richards said all their programs are popular choices for students. She said cosmetology, practical nursing, auto mechanics, electrical, welding, diesel and truck driver training were among the highest enrolling programs.
According to Richards, they enrolled around 450 secondary students and full-time adults this year. She said that the center still receives around 17–19 percent of the member districts’ enrollment and has since the 1980’s.
She said they experienced a peak in enrollment around 2004-05, but they’ve had it drop a little since then. But looking at an 11-year average, she said they’ve maintained around 410 high school students per year.
Richards said they continue to hold steady numbers with adult students factored into enrollment statistics. She said they’ve experienced an increase in adult students since their accreditation by the Pennsylvania and United States Departments of Education.
Richards said the CCCTC adult student population has been eligible for financial aid since fall 2008-09. She said these students had to be previously agency or self-funded. She said those who were apart of the practical nursing program were the only students eligible for financial aid in the past.
She said they typically see enrollment fluctuate in their evening programs, such as highway construction inspector and nurse aid. She said the computer classes are usually filled, however.
Richards said if they have requests, they will offer an evening truck driving course. She said it takes students longer to complete the program when they do so in the evening. She said it’s a great benefit to the students while they’re able to work during the day and still obtain job training in the evening.
Even with fluctuating enrollment, Richards said it’s still important to offer evening courses to those who cannot attend through the day. She said it offers them a taste for a potential career interest.
“They’ll come in and find out, ‘Boy, I think I do (like it),’ or ‘boy, I don’t think so,’” Richards said. “It is short-term and a taste for them.”
She said they also have local industries that send employees for additional education or suggest possible training opportunities. She said for example, they were contacted by Bionol Clearfield LLC about education and training to create a hiring pool of people who had exposure to the ethanol industry.
“If a company says, ‘I need,’ we respond,” Richards said. “We develop the courses and training so they have a pool of local employees.”
Richards said the CCCTC offered four ethanol production courses: basics of biomass, mathematics of ethanol production, chemistry of ethanol production and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Richards said they no longer offer the ethanol courses, as Bionol Clearfield received 3,200 applicants. She said it’d be unfair to the students to do so if a need and potential for a job doesn’t currently exist.
“We keep a careful eye on the labor market and try to tailor our program offerings to market needs,” she said. “We try not to flood the market so that our students in our full-time programs will get jobs. The purposes of the short-term evening courses are to give someone a taste of the profession.”
She said they also maintain relationships with industry professionals regarding their course material and skills training. She said they encourage local business and industries to become involved with the CCCTC.
Richards said their connection with local professionals has resulted in community projects for their students. She said as a result, the students have course material reinforced in a hands-on environment.
Richards said their students generally only take on non-profit projects, so business isn’t taken away from the employers in the community. She said their students have done work on Habitat for Humanity homes as well as both the David H. Litz Grove Stage and Santa House projects, to name a few.
“They get excited about their projects,” she said, remembering the center’s first Habitat home project. “They had the opportunity to meet the family and were excited to see it’d be their home.”
She continued, “The boy who designed the grove stage can forever say, ‘I did that.’ He can take his grandchildren there someday, and say, ‘I did that.’”
Richards said her students’ projects have always received excellent feedback. She said she is “very proud” of all their accomplishments.
“It’s very rewarding to see the difference made in a young person through our teachers and our programs,” Richards said.