Times Daily | College shows off training center

College shows off training center
By Bernie Delinski | Times Daily | August 25, 2011

Training center opens at Northwest-Shoals.

David Demastus didn’t allow a steady stream of people filing through the new Multi-Skilled Training Center to stand in the way of his assignment.

Demastus said he enjoyed working at the lathe machine at the newest addition to Northwest-Shoals Community College’s Phil Campbell campus, in the midst of the training center’s Thursday open house.

The Bear Creek resident was among about a dozen students operating different machinery at the center during the open house. He sees the new center as a gateway to a promising future.

The 9,565-square-foot center will allow students to enter the workforce in the machine tool field.

“From what our teacher says, he sees jobs for machinists every day in the paper,” Demastus said. “I’ve been in this class three days and already know how to run the majority of the machines.”

That’s good news not only for the students, but for officials hoping to lure industries into northwest Alabama. That’s the vision they had when they dedicated $1.2 million into creating the center.

Mitch Mays, executive director of the Franklin County Economic Development Authority, said one of the first things representatives of prospective industries ask about is how many skilled workers are in the area, and what types of skills they have.

“A skilled, educated workforce is an important key to our region’s economic prosperity,” Mays said.

Northwest-Shoals President Humphrey Lee said it took two years to build the center, which was paid for through campus operation funds and a $335,000 U.S. Department of Education grant.

Lee said machinists are in demand, and the new center offers machines that will be as good as or better than those the students will have in the workforce.

“It’s very important to have this facility,” he said. “We are excited that we can now offer advanced welding and machine tool classes.”

He said U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., helped secure the education funding that made the center possible.

Aderholt said the center is an example of what happens when state and federal officials unite to assist a community in economic projects.

“In this environment our country is going through, everything we can do from the federal level and from the state level is important,” Aderholt said.

The two-story building is the first built at the Phil Campbell campus since a performing-arts building was constructed in 1995. The center includes two faculty offices and an equipment/training area for welding and machine tool students.

For more information, click here.