By Michael Best, Grady County Schools
Article Courtesy The Cairo Messenger
The Work-Based Learning program at Cairo High School celebrated recently its business and student of the month. The September Student of the Month is Conner Welch. Conner is a senior at Cairo High School College and Career Academy and is employed at JTEKT as an industrial maintenance apprentice. In addition to taking classes at CHS CCA, he also takes dual enrollment courses through Southern Regional Technical College, working on a degree in industrial maintenance. Conner started working with JTEKT in the Fall of 2022 and has recently been promoted to the apprentice position. This position has been made possible with the support of JTEKT and SRTC through a Registered Apprenticeship Program.
The Registered Apprenticeship Program is a national training system that combines paid learning, on-the-job training, and job related technical and theoretical education in a skilled occupation. Offered through the U.S. Department of Labor, the purpose of the registered apprenticeship is to enable employers to develop and apply broad industry standards to a cus-tomized training plan that increases productivity and improves the quality of their workforce. “Having the opportunity to be a part of the Registered Apprenticeship Program has been an awesome opportunity. Through this grant, I have been able to purchase tools to use at work, which has deepened my knowledge and understanding of the job and the use for each tool. I am grateful to JTEKT for participating in the program,” says Conner.
“We are excited at JTEKT to begin this partnership with SRTC and have Conner as our first official maintenance apprentice! This program will help strengthen our talent pipeline and recruit top talent in the field of industrial maintenance, while offering students hands-on work experience and competitive compensation,” says Kody Johann, human resource manager at JTEKT.
As of this moment, SRTC has 83 registered apprentices working and learning hroughout Southwest Georgia, and an additional 34 apprentices have already completed their programs. JTEKT is the first employer in Cairo to take advantage of this opportunity. Because the program is grant funded, the amount of financial support available to offer can vary. Currently, the school can offer up to $4,400 for reimbursement of expenses related to school and work. The grant monies are avail-able three months after signing on as a registered apprentice. Eligible expenses for reimbursement include:
- Costs of tuition,
- College fees, books, and supplies
- Assessments associated with classroom instruction
- Tools and supplies associated with on-the-job learning (work).
Southern Regional is able to offer apprenticeships to students training in health-care, manufacturing, and transportation and plans to expand into other areas in the future. The opportunity provided to Conner from the support of JTEKT is just one of many reasons why JTEKT was selected as the September Work-Based Learning Employer of the Month. “JTEKT is a wonderful supporter of Cairo High School College and Career Academy and the Work-Based Learning Program,” says Whitney Brannen, Work-Based Learning coordinator at CHS CCA. This past Spring semester, Brannen hosted mock job interviews as part of her class and asked for partici-pation from representatives in the community from vari-ous businesses and industry. The interviews were con-ducted over three days and JTEKT participated in two of them. Kody Johann also serves on the Workforce Development Committee hosted by the Cairo-Grady County Chamber of Commerce and whose committee members double as the CHS CCA Work-Based Learning advi-sory committee. JTEKT currently employs two Work-Based Learning students from CHS CCA and has been a long-standing partner with the program. This past summer, two previous WBL students from CHS CCA who worked at JTEKT during high school, came home to Cairo from Georgia Southern University to work as engineering in-terns.
“Both young men are testimonies to your hard work and dedication to the WBL program at CHS,” says Tonja Grimes, human resources generalist. JTEKT also participated in the Mobile Job Fair field trip in August as a tour site. “JTEKT was a part of the planning of the Mobile Job Fair field trips since the idea was announced. Never once did they hesitate about being involved, but instead came at the idea with a ‘how can we help’ attitude,” states Brannen.To take the partnership between JTEKT, CHS CCA and the WBL program a step further, JTEKT recently hosted internal fundraising events to raise money to create scholarships for our students. The three fundraisers raised a total of $2,000, which will be broken down into two, $500 scholarships and one, $1,000 scholarship. JTEKT hosted an internal cake walk where the employees made the treats, held a hot dog lunch sale, and had a silent auction raffle where employees either made or donated items for bid. One $500 scholarship will be presented to a WBL student in any pathway offered by CHS CCA, another $500 will be available to students who would like to continue their education or for students who want to go directly into the workforce who might need to purchase tools or equipment, and the$1,000 scholarship will be awarded to a student who would like to go into manufacturing. Applications for the available scholarships and more details on eligibility will be released in the Spring semester.