Designed to be a regional hub for career and workforce educational needs in the greater Carmi area, the SIC Stan Williams Career and Training Center broke ground in 2022. The idea goes back more than a dozen years earlier, but now all these years later, Industrial Maintenance and Industrial Arts programs have launched and are paving in roads for tomorrow’s workforce. Griffin Hart, the CTE Program Specialist, dropped by Kiwanis in Carmi Thursday to provide an update.
Hart and Dr. Tyler Billiman dropped by Open Line this spring. More at Open Line ON DEMAND – SIC CTE Program Update with Griffin Hart and Dr. Tyler Billman – WRUL-FM
Among the courses that lead to a certificate which prepares students for in-demand skilled trades careers, focuses include: Automotive, OSHA Safety, Intro to Welding, Small Engine Repair, Ag Machinery, Carpentry & Electrical, Hydraulics, and Plumbing.
They take a variety of vocational courses out there at the school. We try to hit a broad spectrum of vocational areas because this program was set up to take kids in that either they know exactly what they want to do when they graduate or they have no idea what they want to do when they graduate. And we try to find their niche in the vocational area or find their interest in it and hopefully we can kind of help point them or I can help point them in the right direction.
Beyond that, generous donations and scholarships offered through the Absher Charitable Foundation have made the program accessible for dozens of students from Carmi-White County and NCOE.
Courses include some book work and some training videos, but what truly sets the programs in Carmi apart is the hands-on application of learning by doing. Hart says students build buildings, repair vehicles and lawnmowers, complete plumbing setups, and weld for more than a grade. All that gives graduates a boost when entering the workforce.
All those years ago the idea was for college leaders to meet with the business community throughout the region to find out what they need and then put programs in place to funnel a pipeline for those industries. That’s happening with a new course set to launch in January.
We’ll be offering our oil and natural gas certificate. I believe that is a nine month certificate. Basically what that is, we have partnered with some of our local oil industry, people like Campbell Energy and Mitchell Drilling, and also with the Illinois Petroleum and Resource Board to offer basically that in between stage of someone new to the oil field or even someone with a little bit of experience to give them a little bit more knowledge before they hop into the field of oil industry. So they’re going to learn some terminology, some skills, a little bit of welding background, a little bit of automotive background with that program so that way they are ready to go out in the workforce and don’t feel so new and green to it.
That course was born out of discussions with locals at a once per semester Advisory Council meeting. The next is coming up Thursday, September 10th, 5pm, at the Stan Williams Training Center on the SIC Carmi campus. Additionally, an open house is scheduled for the following Tuesday, September 15th giving anyone the opportunity to tour the center, meet the team, and learn more about the workforce hub.
Read more at Officials Break Ground for Long Awaited Stan Williams Career and Training Center Tuesday – WRUL-FM
Read more at SIC Celebrates Grand Opening of Stan Williams Career and Training Center – WRUL-FM
Learn more at SIC White County Extension Center | Southeastern Illinois College