Piedmont Tech graduate Drew Jeffries is rapidly climbing the rungs of the construction industry ladder. Columbia-based McCrory Construction Company promoted Jeffries to assistant project manager. His newest project is the construction of an assisted-living facility in North Carolina. He credits excellent training at Piedmont Technical College (PTC) for much of his success.
It started quietly at first. A low buzz, numerous meetings, contract development and ― finally ― the arrival of the first three IRB 140 robots to the Piedmont Technical College (PTC) Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CAM) in Laurens. This spring marked the official launch of a partnership between PTC and ABB, a leading supplier of industrial robots that serves 53 countries around the world.
Even if you have a desk job in an Army infantry unit, you still have to run long distances and march for hours in combat boots carrying heavy gear. Willette Wright knows all too well what it takes. She served eight years as an administrative specialist in the Army. And her feet felt every mile of it. Today the disabled veteran works in a warehouse near her tiny home town of Ridge Spring. For the past three years, she also has been the enthusiastic, 50-something lady sitting alongside students half her age in classes at Piedmont Technical College’s Saluda County Campus.
Navigating a sometimes turbulent marketplace requires vision, experience ― and the right balance to stabilize the ship. Management at Menardi Filter Elements in Edgefield County realized that sailing along the same way as always only brings the same results. All the while, their competitors were changing tack in the midst of an approaching sea change. Company officials saw apprenticeship, in partnership with Piedmont Technical College, as an opportunity to secure training and update employee skills at a significantly lower cost while, at the same time, instigating a progressive shift in mindset.
Piedmont Technical College (PTC) will hold two summer commencement exercises on Thursday, August 2. An afternoon ceremony for Agriculture, Arts & Sciences, Business, Computer Technology, Engineering/Industrial Technology, and Nursing graduates will take place at 3 p.m. An evening ceremony for Health Science graduates will be held at 7 p.m. Both commencements will take place in the James Medford Family Event Center on PTC’s Lex Walters Campus-Greenwood.
Petite but powerful, Christina Pope had no trouble handling suspects twice her size as a former Richland County Sheriff’s Deputy. And today, the Piedmont Technical College graduate is making an equally strong impression in the courtroom as a Richland County magistrate judge.
The ability to effectively protect and serve the public takes a special type of individual, someone with both empathy and acute critical thinking skills, someone with moral conviction and respect for the rule of law. Piedmont Technical College’s associate in applied science (AAS) degree with a major in criminal justice offers a solid foundation that graduates can take immediately into entry-level public service work or build on by transferring into more advanced studies at a four-year institution.
If you blinked while lawmakers returned to Columbia last month to finalize the state budget, you might have missed it. But one particular provision passed as part of the 2018-19 budget is a VERY BIG DEAL for high school graduates from the following public school districts served by Piedmont Technical College (PTC) ― Abbeville, Laurens 55, Laurens 56, McCormick and Saluda. Individuals who graduated or received their GED in these counties from 2013 through 2018 and wish to pursue a certificate, diploma, or associate degree may be eligible for up to $2,000 in scholarship funding annually through the SC Promise Scholarship program.
The clicking of keys ranks among the country’s more common workday sounds and for good reason. Keyboards control sophisticated systems. Acquiring the knowledge and skills a computer-based work environment demands has never been more critical. To better provide skills essential to workplace success, Piedmont Technical College is adding three new certificate programs. The administrative office technology department is adding the Customer Service and Support certificate and the Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certificate. In addition, the college’s business program is adding the Human Resource Management certificate.
Members of the Piedmont Tech family were saddened to learn of the July 9 passing of Allen Barbare, who taught in the Human Services program at PTC for more than 12 years.
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