Blackhawk Technical College recently issued the following announcement.
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) Secretary-Designee Amy Pechacek joined manufacturing employers, educators, and workforce development partners at a Youth Apprenticeship Lunch & Learn event Wednesday at BTC’s Advanced Manufacturing Training Center in celebration of National Apprenticeship Week and the 30th anniversary of the state’s Youth Apprenticeship program.
Pictured from L-R: Rhonda Suda (SWWDB Chief Executive Officer), Mark Borowicz (BTC Director of Workforce and Community Development), Colleen Koerth (BTC Manager of Workforce Development), and Amy Pechacek (DWD Secretary-Designee).
Pechacek praised the work done in Rock and Green counties to help build the state’s workforce pipeline through apprenticeship. Pechacek said she credits partners, including the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board and Blackhawk Technical College, for helping to “flip the script” by making apprenticeship “one of the premiere ways to enter the workforce.”
“Blackhawk Technical College has been there from the very beginning,” Pechacek said.
Merrill Reed, a Beloit Memorial High School student, shared his experience as a youth apprentice at Frito-Lay. The experience has made him more engaged in his schoolwork, and it has opened the door to a career he didn’t know existed, he said. After he graduates, Reed plans to attend Blackhawk.
Wednesday’s event also featured Matthew White, Director of DWD’s Equal Rights Division. White discussed child labor laws as they pertain to Youth Apprenticeship.
Original source can be found here.
