Thompson, Central Carolina Technical College to partner on electrical apprenticeship program
BY BRUCE MILLS
bruce@theitem.com
Thompson Construction Group and Central Carolina Technical College are partnering to offer a customized electrical apprenticeship program that will in turn benefit both entities.
Central Carolina’s short-term training for Thompson’s electrical technicians in the skilled trade area will begin at the start of next year through the college’s school of workforce development, and the partnership allows CCTC to move forward with a national construction education certification program for the general public.
Officials with Thompson and Central Carolina shared the details this past week with The Sumter Item.
The apprenticeship program for Thompson was developed by CCTC in collaboration with the employer and will be a hybrid class model consisting of online learning with hands-on assessments.
Thompson Construction Group has about 2,800 employees across the Southeast.
In turn, with the partnership in hand, the college will become a National Center for Construction Education and Research-accredited school and can expand open-enrollment, short-term training opportunities in the future to other trades, such as plumbing and HVAC, according to CCTC’s new workforce development dean.
Kari Middleton, CCTC’s dean of the School of Workforce Development and SC Environmental Training Center, said the college is developing the Thompson program and an entry-level NCCER Core course for the public that will also begin at the start of the new year.
NCCER Core is essentially a basic introduction to trades training that covers safety, basic skills and employability skills, she said, and offers its own industry-recognized credential. It will be an in-person, open-enrollment training course.
That certification will serve as a prerequisite in most instances for the general public to move into the expanded, short-term trades training, which is targeted to begin next school year (2026-27).
Middleton said that trades training will include plumbing, HVAC and other trades based on needs assessments.
“We will grow it to scale based on the biggest needs of our community partners and industry partners,” she said. “A big part of our job is to be aligned with their needs.”
The entry-level certifications will increase individuals’ employability in the workforce, and Thompson plans for some of its employees to take part in the expanded trades training.
According to Middleton, the college’s goal also is to funnel training completers into its one- and two-year programs in its School of Advanced Manufacturing & Engineering Technology. Those credit programs include automotive technology, welding technology, HVAC, mechatronics (which is the integration of mechanical systems with electronics and software in advanced manufacturing) and others.
CCTC serves the four-county region of Sumter, Clarendon, Lee and Kershaw counties, and both the college and Thompson agree that the end goal of the entire process is to increase the regional workforce pipeline.
Click here to view the original article on the Sumter Item website.