It was 1999 when Southeastern Illinois College initially applied for the capital development project in Carmi. Nearly 25 years later, SIC’s Stan Williams Career and Training Center is welcoming it’s inaugural class. Dr. Karen Weiss, the Vice President of Academic and Student Services along with Griffin Hart, the CTE Project Specialist gave some updates on the new center at Thursday’s Kiwanis meeting. Weiss says they’re about two weeks out from the initial building’s phase one completion. The maiden class has 11 dual credit students, all from Carmi White County, in the Industrial Maintenance Certificate program. Kids get up for class that starts at 7:30am where this fall they’re taking Metallurgy, Arc Welding, and Intro to Programmable Logic Controllables. In the spring, they’ll take Intro to Auto Technology, Intro to Small Engines, and get a 10-hour OSHA Safety Certification. The curriculum was built after Dr. Jonah Rice and Weiss spoke with area employers including Vibracoustic, Marshall Electric, many of the region’s oil producers, and farm owners.
Ideally, Weiss says they’ll start as juniors, complete the Industrial Maintenance Tech certificate and then in year two, they’ll move into trades which will include (Fall of 2024) Plumbing, Electrical, and Carpentry followed in the Spring of 2025 with Hydrogen Welding, Hydraulics, and Ag Production.
“So they can easily walk out with two certificates in two years. And in addition, the Absher Foundation has said if they complete these two certificates, they’ll give them $1,000 cash coming out of it. If they come out of it with one certificate (because seniors are at a disadvantage, they only are going to get the single year), they’ll walk away with $500.”
The goal with the entire program is to grow the workforce in White County. In addition to these programs, SIC will launch CDL classes in Carmi on October 4th. The 4 week program will run through November 1st and be held from 8am – 4:30pm daily. It’s open to everyone but class sizes are limited to just 4 at a time per location. CDL certification classes are also available at the main Harrisburg campus and also through a partnership with John A Logan College.
Weiss says SIC enrollment for the fall is up 3%. The college boasts a variety of award winning programs, competitive teams, arts, and athletics. Learn more at http://www.sic.edu.
