Students jump into Industrial Careers programStudents jump into Industrial Careers program

Four community colleges in California's San Joaquin Valley are teaming to offer high-school seniors a taste of technical and industrial careers in internships through July.

The Jump Start into Industrial Careers Internship, which began July 5, is a regional partnership between College of the Sequoias Tulare and Hanford Campuses, Porterville College, Reedley College and West Hills College Lemoore. The program offers four-week paid internships to introduce students to the skills they need for jobs with local manufacturing and agricultural companies.

The goal of the program is to attract and engage the next generation of highly skilled employees to meet the needs of local industry and provide good paying jobs to the residents of the Central Valley. College of the Sequoias (COS) is hosting 40 students in total at the Tulare and Hanford campuses.

Participating employers and organizations supporting COS include Blue Scope Buildings, ProMach, Faraday Future, Leprino Foods, Valmetal, GUSS Automation, J.G. Boswell, Tulare County Foundation for Ag Education & Youth, Southern California Edison, Tulare Workforce Investment Board, Community Services Employment Training, Kings County Job Training Office, and COS Training Resource Center.

The regional effort is spearheaded by the Central/Mother Lode Regional Consortium which funds operational costs such as lunch, transportation, equipment, etc. Each student receives a $1,500 scholarship/stipend for their participation, funded by public and private dollars and corporate sponsorships. The training will cover topics such as industrial maintenance, industrial automation, electrical training, OSHA safety, industrial math and soft skills.

According to the Regional Director for Employer Engagement in Advanced Manufacturing, Gary Potter, “there are over 12 million jobs in manufacturing in the United States alone. By 2030, an estimated 4 million manufacturing jobs will be needed. This program will help in the development of a talent pipeline to fill the needs of our local manufacturing, agricultural and industrial employers.”

The program has already received significant interest from local high schoolers with 291 student applicants for the first student cohort across the region. The Central/Mother Lode Regional Consortium is already planning to expand the program to meet the demand from both students and employers.

Jonna Schengel, Dean of Career Technical Education, Workforce Development and Nursing and Allied Health at College of the Sequoias is excited to offer this opportunity for students across Tulare and Kings Counties. “This internship provides the students with the engagement and exposure to learn the multitude of different career opportunities within the industrial and agricultural technology industries,” said Schengel.

Source: College of the Sequoias, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.