HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — When local companies need trained workers, Drake State Community and Technical College is one of the places they look. Now the school has partnered with area companies for a new workforce program.
It's called the CSI (Connecting Students with Industry) Advanced Industrial Maintenance Program. The purpose? To fulfill workforce needs in manufacturing technology.
The program partners students with North Alabama industry while they pursue a two-year technical associate degree. The program combines:
- Cutting-edge curriculum with advanced manufacturing technology
- Paid working-based learning experience
- Highly sought-after business soft skill principles.
Current Drake State students in the two-year Advanced Industrial Maintenance (AIM) Program are eligible, as well as new students for the Fall 2022 semester. There's an information session on May 3, 2022 from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Drake State Campus Cafetorium.
The deadline to apply is May 10, 2022.
Partner companies include Mazda Toyota, LSINC, GE Appliances, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin.
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Drake State also jumped in to help with the local nursing shortage.
Drake State and Huntsville Hospital are teaming up to provide a program called the LPN Launch Program.
LPN stands for a Licensed Practical Nurse, and there is a major need for more skilled nurses.
This program will make fixing those demands a reality.
"We have a shortage of workforce in Alabama that has been going on for a while. And thanks to Governor Ivy's initiative, the Alabama Community College System put out some grant applications for a standalone LPN program and so Drake was one of the schools that applied and we actually won that grant," said Drake State's Director of Innovation and Program Success, Alice Raymond.
"In 1961, Drake was founded, in 1895, Huntsville Hospital... So, this partnership will do a great job in pushing forward the mission of not only the college but our hospital," said Huntsville Hospital President and COO, Tracy Doughty.
The LPN Launch Program makes that college to workforce transition easy for those looking to join the medical field right here in Huntsville and all in the name of collaboration.