Community College opens new center in Carmel Church

The new Germanna Community College Caroline County Center will begin hosting non-credit workforce development classes in Caroline County next week.

The GCC Caroline Center in the Carmel Church Medical Office Building off Route 207 in Belmont has launched a Masonry Apprenticeship Program on Tuesday evenings from 6-9 p.m. The course offers a detailed introduction to masonry including tools and equipment, measurements, drawing specifications and mortar.

The leadership at Germanna envisions the new center as an outpost to serve residents of Caroline and surrounding counties with relevant credit and non-credit courses.

“In terms of trying to serve the County of Caroline, that’s been on my radar since I came on staff nine years ago,” said GCC president Dr. David Sams. “Having a workforce training center in Carmel Church near Interstate 95 and U.S. 1 will give us a better chance to serve the citizens better. It is part of our strategic plan to meet the needs of business and industry.”

Sams noted that Germanna has tried to serve Caroline County residents in the past with mixed results. “We tried programs at the library in Bowling Green and at the high school,” he added.

The Carmel Church center will focus on training for careers in areas where there is a demonstrated need, including masonry and asphalt paving, for which GCC also offers training. “These are areas where, if you like to use your hands, you can learn a skilled trade where the pay is good. These are things you can’t outsource to another country,” Sams said.

With the huge Harris Teeter grocery warehouse and a WalMart mega-store being built in Caroline over the next two years, as well as road paving and home building going on, there will be a need for these types of skills right here.

“We are concerned that there are people left behind or who have degrees and need to change careers. It is estimated that a young person may have as many as seven careers in his lifetime; not jobs, but careers,” Sams said.

The ITT people were at the center Monday installing equipment and computer cables. The new workforce center features a classroom, conference rooms, a computer lab and other features, according to Martha O’Keefe, GCC associate vice president for Workforce Development.

The Caroline facility will be hooked up to other GCC campuses and centers, which will facilitate instruction through interactive video, according to Dr. Jeanne Wesley, vice president for Workforce Development. “It’s the perfect solution when there is not enough enrolment in one place.”

While GCC hopes to offer many courses and workshops in Caroline, heavy emphasis will be on learning that is job related. “The Liberal Arts are always important, but getting a job and getting out of your mother’s basement is also important,” Wesley said.

Sams, Wesley and O’Keefe agreed that the new center could lead to a larger facility down the road.

Classes scheduled for the center include Masonry Apprenticeship, Tradesmen Licensing Updates, Grant Proposal Writing, Basic Computer Skills, and MS Office Applications, among others. In addition, community sessions on job search skills, resume writing, and interviewing skills will be offered.

“We are very pleased to welcome Germanna to Caroline County,” said Floyd Thomas, who represents the Mattaponi District on the Board of Supervisors and led the effort to bring the college to the County. “The Board has pursued this goal for many years and we are excited to see it become a reality. The convenience of having classrooms available in Caroline will make it much easier for County residents to achieve their career development goals and improve their lives.”

Germanna Career & Business Coordinator Ben Sherman called it “Great classroom instruction and hands-on training for this high demand trade.”

Enrollment for the Masonry course is still open. Prospective students may go to www.germanna.edu/workforce or call (540) 891-3012 for more details.
By Greg Glassner / CP Contributing Editor