Germanna's on-site Apprenticeship Program makes career ladder easier to climb; doesn't require students to leave work

After spending the last six years making airplane parts at Euro-Composite in Culpeper, 29-year-old Doug Bray saw a chance to advance his career when the company began an apprenticeship program in partnership with Germanna Community College's Center for Workforce and Community Education. The program opened the door to an associate’s degree and a journeyman’s license in industrial maintenance.
The four-year Workforce apprenticeship program combines classroom work with on-the–job training at the work site. It’s designed to meet the need for trained industrial maintenance technicians and intended for those who wish to work as maintenance employees or those who have recently been hired as maintenance employees. It also allows current employee to upgrade the skills necessary to support and maintain high-technology equipment.

“It was definitely a good opportunity for me, going to Germanna,” said Bray, who has a wife and child. “I think it’ll allow me to look at my job a little different. It’ll help me to excel at what I’m doing. It could mean promotions, raises. It’ll just benefit me all around and look at different things I’m doing and come up with new ideas to do my job that maybe I wouldn’t without taking the program and without getting my license.”

“It’s been a little bit of a learning experience,” Bray said. “It’s taught me things I never knew and also helped me refresh on things I learned in high school and never really used while I was working. It will definitely help me to think more critically. It’s been a little tough at times, but it’s definitely been enjoyable.”

Call 540/891-3012 or go to www.germanna/workforce/.edu for more information.

GERMANNA INDUSTRIAL MAINTENANCE TECH PROGRAM ADDING TO LOCAL WORKERS' SKILLS, BOOSTING PRODUCTIVITY, SALARIES

Student Thomas Payette of Orange County works on electrical experiments in GCC's Industrial Maintenance Tech lab at the Daniel Technology Center in Culpeper.

Germanna Community College is offering a Career Studies Certificate in Industrial Maintenance Technology at its Daniel Technology Center in Culpeper. The program is designed to meet the growing need for trained industrial maintenance technicians and to help those already in such jobs upgrade their skills.

Thomas Payette, a 22-year-old Orange High School graduate who works at Eagle Eye Electric expects the skills he's learning to advance his career as an electrician in an industry hungry for young workers.

"Over 40,000 people will leave our industry over seven years," Virginia Manufacturers Association President Brett Vassey says. "We have the oldest working population of any sector-- including government-- in the Commonwealth."

Germanna's new lab boasts “mechatronics” technology combining mechanical and electrical engineering with information systems.

The program includes eight courses. Much of the work may be completed online.

Tim Walker, an instructor in the GCC program, said many local companies are paying for their employees to take the courses.

"They'll be getting back a better mechanic, a better worker," Walker said.

For more information on the program, call GCC at 540/937-2900 or 540/891-3012.