FSCC is responding to students interested in welding.
Fort Scott Community College (FSCC), Southeast Kansas Career and Technical Education Center of Crawford County (CTEC) and area businesses have banded together to prepare for the fall semester increase of students interested in welding, according to Kassie Fugate-Cate, Director of Strategic Communications and Student Activities at FSCC.
FSCC’s Welding, Construction Trades, Masonry, and HVAC programs are located in Pittsburg.
Enrollment from Crawford County high school students is approximately 43 students, which made the expansion necessary.
CTEC will be adding five new welding booths to the 11 that already exists to accommodate the increase in enrollment.
FSCC masonry students are in the midst of building the cinder block booths, while Nutter Electric, Garland, is providing the necessary electrical upgrades, and the college is supplying the welding equipment.
Potential industry donors have been identified who may be willing to donate equipment for the new booth spaces as well.
Kris Mengarelli, the Director of FSCC CTEC says: “It is exciting to see our enrollment increase, giving our students the opportunity to learn a trade in high need jobs. This spring, we have been approached with more job openings than ever before from industry partners and have had more students take the certification test. CTEC is an incredible partnership between high schools, FSCC, industry partners and generous donors and we are excited to continue to work together to benefit students in Crawford County.”