Douglas, GA., Wiregrass Georgia Technical College’s Economic Development department in partnership with Southern Rivers Goodwill conducted a construction program on the Coffee campus of Wiregrass in Douglas. The program concluded this past week graduating 11 participants. This four-week-long program taught instruction in framing, roofing, flooring, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and employability skills. Students also earned certifications in OSHA-10, forklift, and CPR. The program was free to the public. “This program has been a great success and is truly beneficial to the community, probably the most important initiative our department is doing this fall,” says Michael Williams, vice president of economic development at Wiregrass. “We hope to continue to offer this training on multiple campuses this year, and we greatly value our partners at Goodwill. They have been phenomenal to work with.”
Wiregrass President DeAnnia Clements shared, “We appreciate the partnership with Southern Rivers Goodwill that allows Wiregrass to provide short-term training in critical areas that will allow students to fill immediate job openings in our service area.” Students who participated in the class were Jamie Clark, Edgar Dugger, Felicia Duran, Marcus Fussell, Ferlonzo Hunt, Mayor Tony Paulk, Michael Raulerson, Natalie Sanders, Terrance Simpson, Sergio Vargas, and Armani Williams.
The students have learned valuable skills in construction. The curriculum requires them to frame, roof, wire, and plumb a real structure. Mayor Tony Paulk of Douglas, one of the students in the first group, had plenty of praise for the program: “I highly recommend the Goodwill Construction training class offered at Wiregrass Georgia Technical College. Wiregrass provides the perfect environment for the training. We actually built a small house. The class estimated the costs of materials, designed the house, built the foundation and walls, stick-built the ceiling joist rafters, and added a porch to the structure. Finally, we installed the panel box and wired the house to include wiring outlets, light switches, and lighting as well as plumbed the house. It was absolutely unbelievable the amount of useful information provided in the 20-day training course. The class is FREE to the public and provides lunch!”
Rosalind Neal of Southern Rivers Goodwill agrees, “Construction companies are desperate to find skilled workers in today’s economy. This program gives students the skills they need to hit the ground running in a variety of construction fields on day one.”
The next session will be held on the Cook campus of Wiregrass Georgia Technical College in Sparks, Georgia, and will begin on October 23. To register for the program, please contact Rosalind Neal at 229-316-1216 or by email at rlneal@gwisr.org. To learn more about other continuing classes offered by the Wiregrass Economic Development team follow them on Facebook at Wiregrass Georgia Technical College – Economic Division. Visit Wiregrass.edu to learn more.
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Photo attached: (Wiregrass Construction Class.jpg) Graduates from a four-week construction class conducted by Wiregrass Georgia Technical College and sponsored by Southern Rivers Goodwill.
