By Abby Thornton
Buena Vista is expanding courses at its high school to accommodate the growing demand for skilled workers in the area. The city is collaborating with Dabney S. Lancaster Community College to implement new workforce training programs at Parry McCluer High School by next fall.
The programs, which will be administered by Dabney S. Lancaster faculty, will include several new courses aimed at high school students and adults who want to obtain jobs in manufacturing. The courses will train students for jobs in instrumentation, welding, computer-aided design and industrial maintenance, among other fields.
The city’s director of economic development, Brian Brown, said that the new programs are part of a city initiative to encourage its citizens to find work in Buena Vista, rather than commuting out of the city for work.
Brown said that manufacturing jobs are in high demand in Buena Vista. Thirty percent of people employed in the city hold manufacturing jobs, compared to a 13 percent average across cities nationwide.
While someone with a manufacturing job in Buena Vista makes only $57,000 a year compared to a state average of $64,000, the city’s low cost of living means that a Buena Vista worker’s earnings have a higher purchasing power on average than the earnings of his or her peers across the state
“It only costs 86 cents to live in Buena Vista per a national average of one dollar,” said Brown. “When you factor in cost of living, the dollars of our workers go much further in this city.”
The increased demand for these jobs has led the college to expand its program offerings to other locations, and Brown said that PMHS was a logical option for this expansion because it already has a lab that it uses for carpentry courses.
The new courses, which will be offered at night, will be open to both students and adults looking to further their education.
“At this point, we are still in the very beginning stages of the program and what our role might be,” said PMHS Principal Anna Graham. “But the prospect that [the college] will be offering evening classes to the community and our students is one that is very exciting, and I think it makes a lot of sense.”
While the school already offers some vocational courses, Graham said that the new programs will offer a broader range of training for students interested in other jobs in the manufacturing industry. But the new programs will come with a price tag. The school’s supply list includes expensive equipment such as a virtual welding simulator.
Graham said that the school is in the process of evaluating what equipment is needed in order for the college to begin operating out of the school’s advanced manufacturing lab next fall. She said that PMHS will receive a grant from the college to fund any new machinery.
Rockbridge County High School has a similar lab that it uses for a program that trains students how to repair heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. When the new programs at PMHS are implemented next fall, high schools students in Lexington and Buena Vista will be allowed to choose which courses they want to take, regardless of where they are taught. Brown said that this will benefit both cities.
“We want this to be an example of two jurisdictions using each other to reach a common goal,” said Brown. “If kids from [RCHS] can come here to learn how to weld, and our kids can go there to learn how to fix air conditioners, everyone wins.”
Brown said that modern technology has shifted the demand for manufacturing jobs in favor of higher skilled workers, and that this is all the more reason for students to be looking at these jobs as possibilities.
“We’re seeing more kids coming out of high school now with certificates in industrial maintenance that are doing better than kids with four-year degrees,” Brown said. “We want to show our kids that there’s more than just one pathway to a lucrative career.”