Efficient Plant February 2018 - 6

column | editorial

Plenty of
Skills Gap
Fillers
Gary L. Parr
Editorial Director

The Kids to Love KTECH mechatronics
program is open to youth, military veterans, homeless adults, and anyone else
who needs a helping hand. Graduates are
qualified to take the Siemens Certification
exam. Photo courtesy Kids to Love KTECH

| EFFICIENTPLANTMAG.COM

Y FIRST EXPOSURE to
skills-gap-filling programs
was 16 years ago when I was
teaching high-school science at a very small
school in northern Illinois. The closest the
vast majority of students at that school were
ever going to get to a college was watching Saturday football on TV. Fortunately,
years before I arrived, an educator saw the
same thing and partnered the school with
a nearby community college that offered a
significant skills/technical training program
for high-school students. The "skills gap" we
address today was not an issue then, but the
student need for skills in that community
could have easily been described as critical.
Students in the program would begin
and end their days with core courses (science, math, English). About mid-morning,
they would fill up a couple of busses and
head to the community college where
they would learn building construction,
welding, electronics, and other skills. They
would return late afternoon for another
core course, then head home for the day.
For many, I think I can safely say, the
program was a lifesaver. Without those
skills, their futures were not very bright.
I'll never forget one young man who struggled with "book learning," and found it
extremely difficult to sit still in my science
class. He was a good kid, and I'm confident
is a good man today, but simply wasn't
wired to sit in a classroom. Yet he couldn't
wait to get on that bus each morning.
His efforts earned him a summer job at
a local metalworking business and, upon
graduation from high school, when most
were wondering about their futures, that
summer job became a full-time position.
I still carry the memory of his proud
face when he told me about the job. One
student saved.

OTHER SUCCESSES
Since our December "Industry Views"
article that illustrated what several companies are doing to fill the skills gap, I've become aware of many other programs that
are making a difference for people young
and old. For example, visit efficientplantmag.com/1801uponor to hear my podcast
discussion with Bill Gray, president of Uponor North America (Apple Valley, MN,
uponor.com), about the three-pronged
approach they are using to develop skilled
workers.
Recently, I came across an article
on al.com by Shelly Haskins about the
KTECH school, which is part of the Kids
to Love program located in Madison,
AL (kidstolove.org). Former foster child
Lee Marshall started The Kids to Love
Foundation to care for foster children.
According to Haskins, Marshall worried
about the futures of the children in her
care. After some fundraising and generous
philanthropic contributions, Marshall
started the KTECH school as an effort to
provide foster children with employable
skills and keep them out of prison.
The mechatronics program is managed
today by Dorothy Havens and, in its two
years, has graduated 29 students ranging
from 18 to 42 years of age. The program
offers 16-week and 6-month paths and is
open to youth, military veterans, homeless
adults, and anyone else who needs a helping hand. Upon completion, students are
skilled enough at mechanical, electrical,
and computerized technologies to take the
Siemens Certification exam. Some 93%
have earned certification.
It's programs such as these that tell me
the skills gap may not be closing quickly,
but it's closing. EP
gparr@efficientplantmag.com

FEBRUARY 2018

http://www.efficientplantmag.com/1801uponor http://www.uponor.com http://www.al.com http://www.kidstolove.org http://www.EFFICIENTPLANTMAG.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Efficient Plant February 2018