“Every one of the young people that I met here today is being trained in something where I’ve met a business who said, I can’t expand, I can’t grow, because I don’t have people like that,” Husted said.
Husted said $41 million from the new state budget for K-12 schools will help high school students receive credentials for in-demand jobs while still in high school and help schools create the programs.
The new $70 million Greene County Career Center facility opened in August 2020.
Husted said the career center will also benefit Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which has an aging workforce. The career center has an advanced engineering lab, an electrical lab, a welding lab and teaches students to work and fly drones.
Greene County Career Center superintendent David Deskins said Husted was “spot on” about partnership between career centers and businesses becoming more important.
“Because it’s what’s helping us bridge the gap of not having a strong enough or a large enough workforce to meet the economy’s demands,” Deskins said.
Deskins said some students are also interested in looking into different opportunities than a traditional college career.
Josh McFall, one of the students who spoke to Husted and who said he has a few more credits to take before he graduates, said he was interested in looking into other opportunities than college. He currently works for Reddy Electric, and said he is interested in possibly pursuing his journeyman’s licensure or going to college. He hasn’t decided yet.
McFall said his main concern was staying out of debt in going to college.
McFall said anyone who is interested in coming to the career center should do it. He plans to use the skills he gained in the career center to pay for college if he decides to take that path.
“Don’t go to college unless you can afford it,” McFall said.
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