Academy to give students a ‘leg up’

During a January meeting at John Jay Center for Learning in Portland, manufacturers from around Jay County expressed a need for individuals with maintenance and manufacturing skills.
The talent pool of those looking for jobs in the area was lacking the skills the companies needed.
So with the help of an Innovative Career and Technical Education (CTE) Curriculum grant, Jay Schools created a manufacturing academy at Jay County High School to help develop the necessary skills.
“The fundamentals of manufacturing, we didn’t teach it and most schools don’t,” said Jeremy Gulley, director of teacher effectiveness at Jay Schools and a driving force behind the program. “In the old days in the shop classes you learned some of those skills, but a lot of those shop classes don’t exist like they used to.”
Gulley had to write a proposal for the grant, for which Jay Schools was the only recipient from Region 6. The region includes Jay, Blackford, Delaware, Randolph, Henry, Wayne, Rush, Fayette and Union counties. Only three from the region applied, Gulley said.
The grant from the Indiana Works Council awarded $3 for every dollar raised locally, and totaled $153,776 after the school corporation raised more than $61,000 in cash, gifts in kind or through the donation of equipment. The money will be used to obtain equipment needed to train the students and teachers, and it supplied 24 computer workstations for students.
Once the corporation received the grant, two teachers — Seth Swallow and Melissa Wolters —began the training process to learn how to teach the course. The two spent a week in Indianapolis over the summer going through the program. They had to take and pass the course online just as the students will be required to.
The course material is derived from Conexus, an Indiana-based non-profit that Gulley said “works with manufacturers to create curriculum to teach the kids the things that manufacturers say they need more of.”
Through Conexus, Jay Schools uses Hire Technology, a two-year course sequence in collaboration with Ivy Tech Community College. The course uses online training while also giving the students various hands-on projects. During the 2013-14 school year, 83 high schools in Indiana used Hire Technology.
Upon completion, students can obtain up to 15 credits in production, safety and electronics from Ivy Tech. The students can also earn certifications from the Manufacturing Skills Standards Council (MSSC) as well as other credentials.
Gulley said by going through the program, students will have qualifications that can get them in local factories right away.
“I kind of see it this way,” he added, “I see manufacturers in the region competing for these students because they would have already proven they are work-ready on day one with their education and certifications in manufacturing.”
Additionally, he said the academy could also be a substitute for those who aren’t interested in the traditional college route.
“I’m convinced we push kids too hard to go to four-year colleges and say, ‘That’s what you need to be successful,’” he added. “I don’t believe that’s true. I don’t think our labor statistics show it’s true, and I think the debt some students are racking up in jobs that aren’t available is unsustainable.”
Mason Cochran is one of those students who plan to forgo the college experience.
“It doesn’t make sense to me to go to college for four years and rack up $100,000 in debt when you can be making money right out of high school, especially in a field that’s always going to be there,” said Cochran, who has been helping out with his grandfather’s heating and cooling business since he was 5 years old. “Everyone is always going to need heating and cooling.”
Although the program is still in its infant stages — there are 24 students currently enrolled and another 25 have signed up for next semester — Gulley said it will be a few years before its effectiveness can be fully evaluated.
“The key for us is to graduate students with that technical credential,” he said. “It will take that amount of time before the kids will have had enough of those courses.
“Our current sophomores are probably going to be the first eligible group.”
Gulley added the value of the program doesn’t rest solely on the students, but the local factories as well.
“The key to success is the involvement of the local manufacturers themselves,” he noted. “They’re the ones that make it credible so the students see a point to what they’re learning.”
So far, Jay Schools has a tentative agreement with Tyson Foods and F.C.C. Indiana for paid internships for students in the academy.
Tyson, Gulley said, agreed to lower its entry age to 18, noting that it would make exceptions for hiring kids from the program at JCHS. Other companies such as Sonoco, POET Biorefining and Fort Recovery Industries have also gotten on board with the manufacturing academy. Students have gone on factory tours of F.C.C. and POET, and Sonoco sent a safety specialist to speak in the classroom.
After getting his feet wet in a manufacturing class at South Adams, Mike Williamson said he took the course at JCHS to help himself look better to future employers.
“I think this is really going to help everybody get employed faster,” said Williamson, a junior who hopes to become a maintenance technician. “Instead of having to train us all the way because we’re going to know most of it, it will make it a whole lot easier (for the employers).”
Gulley said the program offers students another avenue to go on and have a successful life.
“We just want our kids to have the opportunity to live the American Dream,” he said. “The world is so much more competitive now that we know simply getting a high school education isn’t enough, but a four-year degree at a college is not always the right answer either.
“We feel like in Jay County we make things, we grow things and we’re going to continue to do that. To attract new investment in our county we have to have a work-ready labor pool. It’s not just about the factories, it’s giving the kids the best opportunities for their future.”