​SkillsUSA Southeast Regional Welding Contest at C-Tec today. C-Tec did a great job hosting this event and they have a serious program that produces hard/smart workers. C-Tec will host SkillsUSA regional again in 2018.

Eugene Frazier comes to Columbus and Trains Coordinator Gartner on putting Veterans OJT hour into system using online portal. Looks like a new and improved way to get Veterans their money a little faster (Maybe a lot faster). Thanks Eugene!

SkillsUSA South Central Regional students come the SMART LU#24 to host their 2017 contest. Some really great students and welders. We are sure some of their fine women and men will become Sheet Metal Workers. These are the students that become our leaders in the industry, looking forward to watching them take the next step of their career. Today was a little preview of the future talent and the future looks good.

​Young Leaders SMART LU#24 Columbus MTG

South Point instructors Carl Hileman and Mike Cole went to training this week for Structural Welding. Keep up the good work, LU#24 has some of the best instructors around the country, glad to have them. Good to see instructors keeping up the skills and learning new ways to teach Sheet Metal Apprentices.

Ohio Valley Coordinators Group (OVCG) meeting today with International training Institute (iTi) representative Aldo Zambetti.
Aldo talks about efforts from iTi to educate the public about our programs and help recruit good candidates. Aldo talked about what the DOL is up to and what we should be watching for for the Feds. Aldo discussed a new program from the iTI that we prepare and train military personnel that may be relocating to our area. The hope is that the iTi training will provide a pathway for our programs to use direct entry to bring a veteran into our apprenticeship. We discussed using Helmets to Hardhats to make this go smoothly. Can't wait to get a new apprentice through this program and be a part of their success story.
​Each area apprentice gave a report for their local area.

Applicants are scheduled for an interview today. After the interviews are finished and the numbers are put in the computer, we will have a new applicant list to work from. As always we bring people in according to their rank on this list.

​​Equal opportunity for all. Enrollment of minorities in union apprentice programs is about three times the number enrolled in non-union programs, and there are four times as many women enrolled in union training. Graduation rates of minorities and women from union apprentice programs is three times that of non-union programs. The all-trades graduation rate for union apprentice programs was 82.2 percent, compared with 17.8 percent for non-union programs.

Gary Baker visits our training center for a tour. We had a great time with Columbus City School Board President talking apprenticeship and education. Gary was interested in our combined "On the Job" paid training and how it related to the classroom instruction. We talked about our articulation agreement with Columbus State Community College that earns every apprentice 36 college credits during their apprenticeship. What a Great deal!

Fairfield Career Center, Career Fair today. Glad to share the "sheet Metal Apprenticeship" process with these students.

SkillsUSA Ohio Championships State Planning Meeting Today, a lot of good people working hard and volunteering time to make this year a great contest.

Ohio Valley Coordinators Group meet to plan SkillsUSA state contest and other statewide outreach events. today then we head over to SkillsUSA state planning meeting.