Learning institutions working together to develop workforce in Grant County
Ephrata High School students attend a flight class at AeroTEC Moses Lake Flight Test Center as part of the school district’s Career and Technology Education program.
Courtesy photo/North Central Education Services District
Alexander Ignacio-Gamez, left, and Caleb McGrady, right, remove inspection panels from the underside of an aircraft during a 2022 class in the Big Bend Community College aviation maintenance technology program.
The inside of Big Bend Community College’s Workforce Education Center. Big Bend’s Dean of Workforce Education Daneen Berry-Guerin said their enrollment numbers are almost back to pre-COVID-19 numbers.
MOSES LAKE — Various organizations and partnerships across Grant County are working together to train as many people as possible to enter the workforce to meet high demand in the county and beyond.
Sue Kane, North Central Education Service District’s director of STEM initiatives & strategic partnerships, said that the workforce demand currently outpaces the number of people enrolled in workforce education programs in Grant County.
“We could double the number of kids that are on track to earn that credential, just to meet local demand,” Kane said. “It's not actually better or worse than a lot of the other counties across Washington, but it's still going to take everybody to be able to get there.”
The education service district’s Apple STEM network and its Career Connected Learning program are focused on developing multiple areas in Grant County with different industry focuses.
“It sort of depends on the jobs. For example, the PUD jobs, those would hit more toward Ephrata sometimes,” Kane said. “The data center jobs, those actually land more toward Quincy, although there are data center jobs and IT jobs in Moses Lake too. In reality, employers are going to draw from all of those communities to meet their needs.”
The network partners with community colleges and schools in the region — in Grant County that means Big Bend Community Colleges and local school districts.
“Once a quarter we get together, we are looking at the data, we are learning where there is that gap or that need,” Kane said, “which is especially important in Grant County, as we approach that economic development of all of the newcomers, Sila (Nanotechnologies), Group14, Twelve.”
Kane said the primary way Career Connected Learning works with school districts toward this objective is through Career and Technical Education courses. Kane said they also work with schools on instituting dual enrollment and college in the high school courses.
“To the extent that you can get those courses, that content, into that high school schedule, that allows you to take advantage of some of these Dual Credit courses where it's not out of pocket for students, it's taking advantage of some of the really generous support that our state offers to K-12 students to get that start,” Kane said.
Big Bend Community College is also part of the network of institutions working together in Grant County to develop the future workforce. Big Bend Dean of Workforce Education Daneen Berry-Guerin said that the college’s most popular programs at the moment are Manufacturing and Process Technologies and the aviation programs, including Aviation Maintenance Technology.
“Those are probably the most often sought out as far as the business and industry goes. That doesn't mean that the others aren't important because, you know, we're an agricultural location and we have an ag program, so that's pretty popular too.”
Berry-Guerin also highlighted the college’s computer science program, industrial electrical program, commercial driver license courses and education courses taught in various communities in the county.
Berry-Guerin said Big Bend is focusing on developing programs in Moses Lake, Mattawa and Quincy in particular in Grant County, but that there is a demand for similar programs throughout the rest of the county.
She also said Big Bend’s workforce education enrollment was hampered by COVID-19, but is on its way back to normal levels.
Ephrata School District’s CTE program, which partners with Big Bend Community College and Career Connected Learning, is doing well, CTE Director Sarah Vasquez said. The district serves as an example of what is happening in workforce development across the county.
“We are honestly doing a lot of really great things for CTE in Ephrata, so it's exciting,” Vasquez said. “Our area is awesome. We have growth, we have student enrollment increasing, we have people that are working together…the CTE directors, CB Tech, the high schools, we all pretty much know each other and work together because we have the same goal in mind.”
Gabriel Davis may be reached at gdavis@columbiabasinherald.com. Download the Columbia Basin Herald app on iOS and Android.
