INDIANAPOLIS (March 26, 2021) – Area 31 Career Center, in partnership with Indiana’s Office of Work-Based Learning and Apprenticeship (OWBLA), has developed four certified State Earn and Learn (SEAL) programs that were recognized at a ceremony on March 24.
The programs include Advanced Manufacturing, Automotive Services, Healthcare, and HVAC.
Each Area 31 SEAL program includes more than 1,000 total hours of related training and a minimum of 450 hours of paid career training experiences. All four programs provide college credit from Ivy Tech Community College.
The group of employers recognized at the ceremony were Cummins Sales and Service, A & A Transmission, Wood-Mizer, American Senior Communities, Trilogy Health Services, B & W Plumbing, Heating, Cooling and Drains, and Williams Comfort Air.
Area 31 Career Center has continued to increase business and industry partnerships in all of its programs and continues to leverage public-private partnerships to support students and employers.
Area 31 Director Patrick Biggerstaff spoke of the importance of strong school-employer partnerships, and he shared his appreciation for OWBLA’s leadership in facilitating discussions and helping to expand quality career and technical education programming across Indiana. Area 31 Career Center, with the investment of local employer partners, will continue to create direct talent pipeline strategies to make positive impacts to the communities that they serve.
Biggerstaff noted that “State Earn and Learn programs mean a lot to our staff, students, and employer partners. It is a testament to the quality of experiences and outcomes that are realized in our community.”
Ken Hurst, Area Manager for Cummins Sales and Service, shared his appreciation of the partnership with Area 31 Career Center and said, “The students will be ahead of their peers and enter the workforce well prepared. The students are knowledgeable and have a great work ethic. Our partnership benefits us immensely and has provided us with outstanding employees.”
Qualified automotive services students are concurrently enrolled into the Cummins Youth Technician Apprenticeship Program registered with the U.S. Department of Labor.
Beth Rovazzini, President of B&W Plumbing and Heating, Co. Inc., spoke of the many reasons of its partnership with SEAL programs, highlighting excellent curriculum, dedicated staff, and the collaboration of Area 31 and Wayne Township to improve the community. She also stated that her company built the B&W training to build upon the Area 31 HVAC Curriculum. When students graduate from high school, they have completed the first two years of the training requirement and the last two years can be completed while they are on the job as an employee.
“We just love the students; they are all great and we really enjoy watching them grow at our facility,” said Rachelle Morgan, Director of Health Services at Wellbrooke of Avon. Students who are hired into any Trilogy Health Services facility can enter the nurse aide apprenticeship program and continue to other U.S. Department of Labor apprenticeship programs to earn their LPN and RN degrees. Trilogy offers its employees tuition-free programs and direct admission to nursing schools.
SEAL programs are Indiana’s state-level apprenticeship type programs. They are designed to deliver work and learn experience for participants along with the skills and certifications that employers value. These programs are geared toward both adult and youth populations, and they satisfy Indiana’s high school graduation pathway requirements.
The Indiana Department of Workforce Development projects Indiana employers will need to fill more than 1 million additional jobs in the next 10 years, half of which will not require a four-year college degree, but some type of certification or credential beyond a high school diploma.
For more information about the Area 31 Career Center SEALs or SEALs in general, visit the OWBLA website at www.INwbl.com or email the Office of Work-Based Learning and Apprenticeship at wbl@dwd.in.gov.
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