Morrow County Chamber of Commerce members get an insight on MTC programs

By Alberta Stojkovic -

Cham­ber mem­bers enjoyed a Christ­mas noon lun­cheon Dec. 18 at Cor­ner­stone Restau­rant in Mount Gilead fol­lowed by an enthu­si­as­tic pre­sen­ta­tion of Mar­ion Tech­ni­cal Col­lege pro­grams. MTC Direc­tor of Pub­lic Rela­tions, Nicole Work­man empha­sized that atten­dance at MTC can be cost sav­ing for stu­dents as well as being a good prepa­ra­tion for a career or fur­ther education.

Work­man high­lighted sev­eral pro­grams at MTC that make a big dif­fer­ence in lives. One is ABLE, which is an Adult Basic Lit­er­acy Edu­ca­tion course with a goal to fin­ish stu­dents’ GED. She said that many ABLE stu­dents go on to col­lege using their “Quick start to col­lege” pro­gram to earn degrees.

300 pris­on­ers in Mar­ion County take part in MTC col­lege courses. Pris­on­ers don’t receive degrees, but stu­dents gain very valu­able skills they can use after their years in prison. She said that 35 have gone on to com­plete col­lege degrees after prison

MTC stu­dents have practicum intern­ships, which often lead to full time employ­ment. “MTC Works” is a pool of stu­dents who are poten­tial employ­ees. Since 2008 the col­lege has tracked 381 stu­dents and 437 employ­ers served by MTC Works. There have been 259 employ­ment matches since 2008.

Work­man said that an intro­duc­tion to MTC starts with 8th grade tours. This allows stu­dents to have hands on expe­ri­ence with courses. MTC serves 31 high schools and over 500 stu­dents with basic col­lege courses. High school seniors can get a jump start on their col­lege edu­ca­tion by tak­ing PSEO courses while in high school.

MTC Cen­ter for Work­force Devel­op­ment serves both stu­dents and employ­ers such as Whirlpool. The Ram Tech Facil­ity is presently being built on the cam­pus for robot­ics engi­neer­ing. They are part­ner­ing with busi­ness and many of the classes there have to do with the repair and oper­a­tion of robotic equip­ment. The grad­u­ates of this pro­gram are very valu­able to com­pa­nies such as Yutaka and Honda that use robotic equipment.

Cor­ner­stone Restau­rant owner, John Gompf is on the Advi­sory Board for MTC and spoke with com­mit­ment about the impor­tance of the school for many youth. He noted that the school is an avenue for many who can­not afford a four year advanced degree. It also pro­vides the flex­i­bil­ity for some­one who decides to go on to four years in engi­neer­ing or some other degree after their years at MTC. There are more than 30 asso­ciate degrees in busi­ness, engi­neer­ing, nurs­ing and health as well as infor­ma­tion and pub­lic service.

Cham­ber Pres­i­dent, Dan Boy­sel noted that the Mor­row Cham­ber of Com­merce presently has an intern, Sara Bald­win, who is a MTC stu­dent. Boy­sel said she is work­ing as an exec­u­tive assis­tant for the Cham­ber Direc­tor and is very con­sci­en­tious and enthu­si­as­tic in her job.

For more infor­ma­tion about MTC and their pro­grams Work­man said a good source is the web­site at www.mtc.edu or to fol­low them on Face book.

The next meet­ing of the Mor­row County Cham­ber of Com­merce will be Tues. Jan. 15 at noon in Room A in the Mor­row County Hospital.

Posted by Randa Wagner on Jan 1 2013. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.