By John Howell

The education of students who attend Finch-Henry Job Corps Center (FHJCC) can be greatly enhanced by volunteer tutors and by local employers who will employ students in work-based learning, center officials said last week.

FHJCC Academic Manager Alfred Williams told members of the Community Relations Council at their quarterly meeting  that retired teachers often make good tutors. The need is greatest for people who can tutor in math and English, he said.

Williams is a former instructor at the Job Corps center who has recently returned as academic manager. “We are proud of what he’s doing with academics,” Center Director Cordella Smith said.

For the work-based learning, “there are not many hard-hat employers out there who are willing,” FHJCC business/community liaison Roger Givens said. “We have a more difficult time getting those companies to work with us,” he said.

“Hard hat” employers would be those who could use students who are attending FHJCC to gain skills in bricklaying, carpentry, painting and welding.

“Really, it’s some free work,” said CRC member Kelly Services Batesville branch manager Brenda Black, who uses students learning skills in office management. Black also serves on the sub-committee within the CRC to identify local businesses willing to offer work-based learning to students.

“It’s a win-win situation for both of you,” she added. Black’s firm uses students who been trained as office assistants “for four weeks utilizing skills learned on center,” she said.

Black has also placed FHJCC students through her business into area employment, she added.
FHJCC students placed in work-based learning sites are paid and insured by the federal government, Givens said.