What we think: Training classes turning out well

Talk about it

When the Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp. Board added a training center as a strategic plan project, little did its members realize how successful the work force training program would turn out to be.

The third course offering, a basic welding class, looks like another feather in the cap of what is now the Skills Training Committee. The committee evolved out of the strategic plan project and is a collaborative effort by JSDC, James Valley Career and Technology Center and Job Service North Dakota.

The welding course has just started its second class and already has a waiting list for a third. Those who took the first class saw it as a step toward a new job, adding another skill in their present jobs or for personal reasons. The students were able to bring new skills into the work force, and area businesses benefitted from the new talent.

The model that started it all was designed by the Medical Leaders Roundtable to offer a local certified nursing assistant class. It was set up to provide people with the skills training needed to pass the state CNA test. The class needed to be short term, at convenient times and relatively inexpensive. The model also included a pool of instructors so no one person had to teach the class every month.

The model has proved to be very popular with students and instructors. The CNA training class has had nearly 200 people who have passed the state test. The welding class is based on the same model and the committee is looking for the same kind of success.

Another class — the certified medications assistant course — loosely follows the model. However, it is far more intensive, specialized and expensive. Still, even there the response to the first class last July has prompted an earlier date for a second class.

Lisa Hicks, the Skills Training Committee co-chair, said now the committee is looking at more training classes, particularly in the manufacturing and medical areas.

That’s good news for the region as these classes are about raising skill levels, which in turn means higher paying jobs. And, after all, that’s the purpose of work force training.

(Editorials are the opinion of Jamestown Sun management and the newspaper’s editorial board)

Tags: what we think, opinion, editorials, classes, training