Chattanooga State Community College and Komatsu America Corporation have partnered to offer the Chattanooga area’s first state certified pre-apprenticeship program. Komatsu is a manufacturer and supplier of construction equipment in North America.
The inaugural cohort class consists of five high school seniors from Sequatchie, Marion and Hamilton counties.
Class members include Shawn Jones, Colby Sharpe and Dakota VanHooser of Whitwell High School, CJ Camp of Sequatchie County High School and Austin Angland of Red Bank High School.
Students in the cohort work four hours a day five days a week and receive $15 per hour.
Apprenticeship manager Pam Gitta says the application process was competitive. “Students must have taken several high school manufacturing classes to qualify for the program and have their OSHA-10 certification,” she notes.
Komatsu also required students to submit a resume and attend an in-person interview to gain experience in job hunting.
The participants spend their mornings at Komatsu and then return to their home schools for classroom instruction in the afternoon.
This program was the result of a yearlong collaborative effort between Komatsu, career and technical education instructors and directors at the three county districts, the Southeast Tennessee Development District, the State of Tennessee Office of Apprenticeship and Chattanooga State.
Once the students complete their pre-apprenticeship training at Komatsu and graduate from high school, they’ll be eligible to begin full-time apprenticeships at Chattanooga State in industrial maintenance or welding.
For more information about Chattanooga State’s registered apprenticeship programs, call 423 697-3100 or email ewd@chattanoogastate.edu.
Source: Chattanooga State Community College