Anderson-Oconee-Pickens Business & Industry Showcase
October 6, 2014
ANDERSON, SC – Middle and high school students from Anderson, Oconee and Pickens County School Districts attended the 2014 Anderson-Oconee-Pickens Business & Industry Showcase held October 1 and 2 at Littlejohn Coliseum.
The Showcase is designed to help these young people become aware of the good paying jobs that are available in advanced manufacturing. Sixty-five percent of the jobs created require technical or two-year degrees – specifically, persons with the math, science and programming skills needed to run today’s sophisticated equipment and to work in an environment where technology is evolving at a rapid pace.
During this event, students had an opportunity to interact with company representatives from a wide variety of industries to learn more about the pathway they need to take to gain the skills and knowledge needed for these local advanced manufacturing jobs.
A new component of the showcase this year was inviting 150 of the most career-ready seniors from the Career and Technology Centers to meet with participating industries to talk about potential jobs, co-ops, internships and apprenticeships that are available. These Tops in Technology students have taken the WorkKeys assessment and successfully completed a career development pathway during their time in school.
Here, Brandon Manley, a senior at Powdersville High School, operates a virtual welding training station at Tri-County Technical College’s booth. Scott Jaeschke, academic advisor for Tri-County Technical College’s Engineering and Industrial Technology Division, is pictured at right. Brandon plans to enter the Welding program at Tri-County after graduation.
