Okefenokee Technical College employees Cindy Tanner and Deedee Thomas attended a two-day ENERGE Grant State Workshop hosted by the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG). The event was held in Augusta February 24 and at the Vogtle Visitors Center February 25. The ENERGE Grant subrecipients were joined by several members of the Georgia Energy and Industrial Construction Consortium (GEICC) executive committee at the event. GEICC oversees the ENERGE Grant’s activities and programs and is a co-owner of the grant with TCSG.
Day two began with a mini tour of the construction site on the new Vogtle Units 3 and 4 and a driving tour around the perimeter of the existing plants, Units 1 and 2.
The workshop focused on providing standardized plans for the technical colleges involved in the grant and on workforce development issues. Steven Wilson of the Governor’s Office of Workforce Development spoke to the group about WorkKeys and Georgia Work Ready, while Jack Williams of Shaw Construction told the group about the emerging nuclear corridor that stretches from South Carolina through Georgia down to north central Florida.
Andrew Bouldin of Southern Nuclear told the group how to organize summer camps using the NEED curriculum, and Suzanne Powell of Electric Cities of Georgia updated the group about the energy industry in Georgia and how the various entities came together to promote workforce development in Georgia.
GEICC executive committee members in attendance were Odie Donald, ENERGE Grant Committee chair; Angie Farsee, Executive Committee co-chair; Debra Howell, Executive Committee chair; Suzanne Powell, treasurer; Jack Williams, Industrial Construction Committee chair, and Andrew Bouldin, active member who works closely with committee.
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Photo 1:
Okefenokee Technical College employees Cindy Tanner and Deedee Thomas attended a two-day ENERGE Grant State Workshop recently that included a tour of Plant Vogtle near Augusta. The block of concrete in the foreground shows the thickness of the reactor building walls. The fittings demonstrate the thickness of the rebar used in the construction. The plant’s cooling towers are in the background.
The owners of Plant Vogtle in Waynesboro are the first to build new nuclear units in 30 years. This coupled with federal nuclear projects across the Savannah River in South Carolina will attract a pool of qualified nuclear workers to the area. Training these new workers will fall largely to Georgia’s technical colleges – especially those near existing nuclear facilities. |
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Photo 2:
The ENERGE workshop was made possible by Georgia’s ENERGE (Engaged Networking Energy Regional Georgia Education) Grant. The grant focus is to promote career awareness and career opportunities in the energy industry. Twenty-three programs are targeted at nine technical colleges across Georgia as training programs for energy industry labor pools. Okefenokee Technical College is one of the nine colleges selected as a recipient of the grant, which spans a three-year period. The nuclear plant’s reactor buildings for Units 1 and 2 are in the background.
Back row, L to R: Emmett Griswold, Albany Tech, Jim Price, Augusta Tech, Keith Thomas, North Georgia Building Construction & Trades Council; Jack Williams, Shaw, Vogtle Project; Megan Lewis, Lanier Tech; Odie Donald, Technical College System of Georgia
Middle row, L to R: Cindy Tanner, Okefenokee Tech; Mark Iverson, North Georgia Tech; Daryl Barksdale, DeKalb Tech; Suzanne Powell, Electric Cities of Georgia, Inc.; Hank Martin, Altamaha Tech; Angie Farsee, Georgia Transmission Corporation; Debra Howell, Georgia Power Company; Neil Matheson, Lanier Tech
Front row, L to R: Andrew Bouldin, Southern Nuclear; Tiffany Scroggs, North Georgia Tech; Deedee Thomas, Okefenokee Tech; Phyllis Green, DeKalb Tech; Sharon Haworth, Technical College System of Georgia; Jo Anne Robinson, Augusta Tech |
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