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LCCC panel discusses labor shortage, workforce training optionsThe Times Leader
WILKES-BARRE, PA ,
October 4, 2022
Doing so is essential, Cartwright said, because the focus of many government officials has been forced to change from bringing jobs to their region to training a local workforce that could fill those modern jobs. He cited the exciting promise of the fracking boom, dashed when most high paying positions went to people with the needed experience from out of state.
From warnings that there “may never be enough nurses to care for our elderly” to inspirational descriptions of flight on Mars, the discussion during a “workforce development summit” at Luzerne County Community College Tuesday hit a lot of job training needs both present and future. LCCC graduate and current Penn State Hazleton Engineering student Brian Tylutke started with history, hope and the hesitation some students have when considering the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). He note that a century ago Pennsylvania was a national leader in production of oil, coal and steel, and that with proper education it could become a leader in modern industries again. He called the math for engineering “daunting” to potential engineering students, and suggested pushing students out of their comfort zones can be the way to overcome the hesitation. “We have to tell them that calculus is the way to explain the physical world without using words,” he said. “I think we’ve found a new motivational speaker,” U.S. Rep Matt Cartwright quipped. Cartwright, D-Moosic, cited the value of the NASA space projects that flew a small helicopter on Mars and steered a satellite into a small asteroid to see if a collision could alter the asteroid’s path as examples where government spending can spark student imaginations. Read more here. |