MCDC Hosts Red Hat Society Visit

(left to right) Carol McClure, Joyce Waddell, Martha Rogers, Gary Jones, Joyce Jessup, Betty Webb, Marjorie Finley and Patricia Johnson.

The Fantastic’s Red Hat Society of Greenville toured the Muhlenberg Career Development Center’s campus on Thursday, April 5^th.  The Red Hat Society meets the first Thursday of each month.  They look for educational trips they can take to learn more about Muhlenberg County and what it offers its residents.  The group was treated to a catered lunch by Jean-Jeans Catering in the administrative conference room.  After lunch, Gary Jones, Business and Community Liaison, and Ann Cisney, Work Based Learning Coordinator, gave a presentation about the Job Corps program including outreach/admissions through career transition.  At the conclusion of the presentation the ladies were given a tour of the campus and its facilities.  They spoke with numerous staff members and students about the program.  Only two of the members had ever been on the Muhlenberg campus before.  They were impressed with the many physical changes to the buildings and the culture of the center’s students.  Many comments were made about how the program included so many areas needed in order to be successful in life and the work world.

MCDC Hosts Annual Easter Egg Hunt

Muhlenberg Career Development Center hosted its 32nd annual Easter Egg Hunt for community children on April 7th. The annual event attracted 85 children and about 200 parents and grandparents who watched the fun. The center’s Recreation Department, Military Club, SGA and other students helped stage the event. Children searched for plastic eggs filled with candy that were hidden on the center grounds. Some children found special eggs that could be redeemed for other prizes. The center hosted two different hunts for different age groups during the event. The annual MCDC Easter Egg hunt is for children up to 11 years of age.

MCDC Celebrates Accomplishments of March Graduates

March graduates include, front row, left to right, Kelli Cowan, Genesis Paredes, Kiara Kimble and Fonisha Horace; back row, Damerrick Gibson, Toni Sneed, Shatika Clay and Makenzy Gornail.

The Muhlenberg Career Development Center honored eight new graduates during commencement ceremonies at the center in March. As part of the ceremonies, graduate Toni Sneed led the Pledge of Allegiance, Genesis Paredes extended the welcome from the graduates, and Fonisha Horace delivered the commencement address. Kim Jones, director of Center Life, served as master of ceremonies for the day’s activities. Kenny Brown, center director, conducted the tassel ceremony and gave the closing remarks.

Students graduating included Shatika Clay of Madison, Tenn.,  who obtained her Heavy Equipment Operators and Commercial Driver’s License certificates and high school diploma; Kelli Cowan of Morgantown, Ky., who obtained her Medical Office Support certificate and high school diploma; Damerrick Gibson of Miami, Fla., who obtained his Medical Office Support certificate and high school diploma; Makenzy Gornail from Haines City, Fla., who arrived with a high school diploma, and obtained his Medical Office Support, Heavy Equipment Operators and commercial driver’s license certificates; Fonisha Horace from Winter Haven, Fla., who arrived with a high school diploma, and obtained her Medical Office Support certificate; Kiara Kimble from Nashville, Tenn., who obtained her Medical Office Support certificate and high school diploma on center; Genesis Paredes from Winter Haven, Fla., who obtained her Medical Office Support certificate and high school diploma on center; and Toni Sneed from Nashville, Tenn., who arrived with a GED, and obtained her Heavy Equipment Operators certificate and commercial driver’s license.

CJCC Soccer Team Wins Indoor Soccer Tourney

The Charleston Job Corps Center Golden Panther Soccer Team won the High School 2012 Indoor Soccer Tournament held recently in Charleston.  Team members are Gedeon Gebrehana, Network Cabling; Mulatu Chala, Facility Maintenance; Jason Acquah, Pharmacy Tech ; Bhim Ghorsai, Pharmacy Tech; Carlos Crenchaw, Facility Maintenance; Ambarber Cherinet, CAN Completer; Biruk Gebremichael, Pharmacy Tech; Tesfahun Negash, Facility Maintenance; Chida Dhimal, Certified Nursing Assistant; Michael Yefiter , CJCC/enrolled in WVSU; Chali Hordofe, HVAC; Chala Hordofe, HVAC; Roxana Henandez, Business Tech; and Francisco Gonzales, HVAC.

Carl D. Perkins Job Corps Center Pulls “Double Time”

Carl D. Perkins Construction trade students pulled some double time March 22nd as they helped two important organizations that reach out to families in the Prestonsburg, Ky., area. The students worked from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Mountain Comprehensive Green House, unloading a tractor trailer of much needed potting soil.  They then went on to the Auxier Learning Center to help once again, unloading a truck packed with supplies for the counties that were hit hard by tornados earlier in the month. The Carl D. Perkins Job Corps Center continues to meet the needs of the Prestonsburg community, and proving that “Job Corps Works.”

Horizons Team Conducts Panther PREP Training

Martin Brennan, director of Horizons Consulting; Jordan Fisher, Camp Horizons facilitator/trainer and Wayne Berger, director of Horizons Outdoor Learning Center, conducted training at the Charleston Job Corps Center March 26-30, 2012 with senior staff, SGA Leadership and designated staff facilitators. The team from Horizons worked with staff to certify or recertify facilitators working with the center’s Panther PREP (Pride, Retention, Experience and Process) program that is part of the center’s Career Preparation Period. As part of CPP new students experience the PREP program, which includes introductory exercises as well as high and low ropes elements designed to promote critical thinking, teambuilding and communication skills. The Horizons team also conducted training with senior management at CJCC to reintroduce staff to the low and high ropes elements and how those elements can benefit the CPP program and other programs on center. The team also conducted a two-hour all-staff training in which certified facilitators led the staff through parts of the introductory and low elements of the PREP program.

Charleston Job Corps Center Starts New Mentoring Program

The Charleston Job Corps Center has instituted the "Whatever It Takes" mentoring program, overseen by the Career Services Department. All new enrollees are assigned a staff mentor their first 90 days on center to ensure they are positively acclimated in center culture. The primary goal for the mentoring program is to make sure the center staff does "whatever it takes" to help students become successful by completing their academics and career technical training to get a full time job in their trade, enlist in the military, or further their education.

Salyersville Mayor Writes Op-Ed in Praise of Job Corps

The following letter from Salyersville, Ky., Mayor Pete Shepherd appeared in the Op-Ed section of the Floyd County Times:

Salyersville residents will always remember March 2, 2012, as the day tornadoes ripped through our town, destroying homes and businesses in their path. I am proud of the way Salyersville families and businesses came together to help their neighbors in a time of great need.

Even more heartwarming is the support that came into our town from elsewhere. Some of the earliest and most extensive disaster assistance came from Prestonsburg, courtesy of the students and staff of the Carl D. Perkins Job Corps Center.

In the days following the devastating storms, more than a hundred Job Corps students and staff came to Salyersville to log more than 700 volunteer service hours. Students in the construction trades are helping our community clean up and rebuild, and students training in the culinary arts are preparing meals for senior citizens. Students training at the center to work in the security field are helping ensure the smooth operation of the local clothing bank.

On behalf of the people of Salyersville, I want to thank the Job Corps students and staff for their selfless assistance.

Eastern Kentuckians have always known that Job Corps is important to our area. The Carl D. Perkins center is one of 125 local centers across the country that train disadvantaged youth in fast-growing trades so they can overcome personal obstacles and become active contributors to the local tax base instead of relying on it. Nationally, 85 percent of Job Corps graduates find and keep jobs, enlist in the military or continue their education.

Because of the local revenue this generates and jobs that Job Corps supports, every dollar invested in the program returns about $2 to the local economy. These outcomes make Job Corps the most effective national residential career-preparation and academic remediation program serving youth ages 16-24.

The Carl D. Perkins center alone trains 500 young people every year for careers in industries with jobs available right here in Eastern Kentucky, including facility maintenance, construction, security, hospitality, electricity, HVAC and masonry.

Unfortunately, the Carl D. Perkins center and others like it across Kentucky and the United States are in danger of being shut down if Congress does not continue to invest in this important economic growth program. Planned cuts to the Job Corps program would leave 6,000 at-risk youth without the opportunity in a safe environment to gain the job skills they need. If they are not properly prepared for the workforce, these young people would cost U.S. taxpayers more than $2 billion in lost productivity and larger government programs.

I plan to continue discussing the importance of continued Job Corps support with Senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul and Congressman Hal Rogers so they understand why Job Corps is so important to our area’s economy. The recent service its young people and their staff provided to the families of Salyersville are testament to the fact that Job Corps works for our communities.

Perkins Signs New WBL Agreement With Judge Executive’s Office

On March 28, Carl D. Perkins Job Corps Center’s Business & Community Liaison Jimmie Slone and Floyd County Judge Executive R.D. “Doc” Marshall signed papers as part of a new partnership between the center and the Floyd County Judge Executive’s office. This new partnership will provide work-based learning internships for CDP students within different departments of the county government.

Students earn work-based learning credits several different ways, including completing internships with employers, volunteering for community service projects related to their chosen career area and working on campus projects to help improve Job corps facilities and programs. These WBL experiences provide students with ways to improve their local communities, put the career skills they are learning to use while giving back, and develop a greater appreciation for volunteer service, showing that “Job Corps Works.”

Charleston Newsletter 2012

Click here to view our Charleston Job Corp Center's March 2012 newsletter.

Muhlenberg Newsletter 2012

Click here to view our Muhlenberg Job Corp Center's March 2012 newsletter.

Carl D. Perkins Newsletter 2012

Click here to view our Carl D. Perkins Job Corps Center's March 2012 Newsletter.

Perkins SGA Members Meet With Congressman Hal Rogers

SGA representatives Brook Wright, Mariela Rivera, Jennifer Bryant and Kendrick Williams meet with Congressman Hal Rogers, center, during a PRIDE banquet in Salyersville, Kentucky.

Four members of the Carl D. Perkins Job Corps Student Government Associate met with Congressman Hal Rogers on April 4th at a PRIDE (Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment) banquet in Salyersville, Kentucky. Rogers talked with students Brook Wright, Mariela Rivera, Jennifer Bryant and Kendrick Williams about their Job Corps experience and thanked them and other Perkins students for volunteering in the clean-up effort following the devastating tornados that hit Salyersville on March 2nd. Students invited Rogers to visit the center and tour the academic and career technical training programs on center.

The PRIDE initiative was started in 1997 by Rogers and the late General James Bickford, former secretary of the Kentucky Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet, as a way to restore the natural beauty of Kentucky by encouraging citizens to take responsibility for protecting the environment. Under the PRIDE initiatives, funding, through a series of grants, is provided for projects in eastern Kentucky and for education and resources needed to complete these projects.

Carl D. Perkins Job Corps Graduation

Carl D. Perkins Job Corps Center celebrated the accomplishments of 25 new graduates during commencement ceremonies on February 24th. Graduation speaker Laura Ford Hall, communication director at Big Sandy Technical & Community College, talked about her own struggles in life and in her career and encouraged students to make positive changes and choices in their own lives. Ashley Taylor, a CDPJCC graduate now attending college, sang the national anthem and assisted in distributing appreciation gifts to graduates. They in turn gave those gifts to people at the center who helped or positively influenced them. Following the ceremony, Culinary Arts and Hotel/Lodging students hosted graduates and their families and guests to a reception at Perkins Café. More than 40 family members and guests attended the ceremonies, coming from as far away as Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

Graduates include:
 Chuck Butterbaugh of Lakeland, Fla., GED, Electricity-HVAC; Karissa Doss of Erlanger, Ky., High School Diploma (HSD), Carpentry; Chelsea Phillips of Buchanan, W.Va., HSD, Culinary Arts; Antwan Mims of Grove City, Ohio, HSD, Carpentry & Facilities Maintenance; Mark Pride of Lake Mary, Fla., HSD, HVAC/Electricity; Marcie Brooks of Maysville, Ky., arrived with a HSD, Culinary Arts & Office Administration; James Knight of Sanford, Fla., arrived with a HSD, Security; Hailey Garrison of Jacksonville, Fla., HSD, Office Administration; Shanay Moore of Pittsburg, Pa., HSD, Culinary Arts; Tina Simpson of Simpsonville, Ky., HSD, Masonry; David Dayton of Lehigh Acres, Fla., arrived with a HSD, Security; Marcus Haynes of Lexington, Ky., HSD, Facilities Maintenance; Tanya McCarty of Altoona, Pa., arrived with a HSD, Hotel Lodging; Chris Fernandez of Holiday, Fla., arrived with a HSD, Security & Culinary Arts; Christopher Atnip of Sparta, Tenn., HSD, Culinary Arts; Jonathan Guthrie of Ashland, Ky., HSD, HVAC; Natalie Avalo of Pine Brook, N.C., GED, Hotel Lodging; Joshua Bronsky of South Point, Ohio, HSD, Security; Dustin Senger of Augusta, Ky., arrived with a HSD, Security; Regina Messer of Carrie, Ky., arrived with a HSD, Security; Joshue San Martin of Hanes City, Fla., arrived with a HSD, Security; Samantha Stalvy of Lakeland, Fla., arrived with a HSD, Security; Ladarious Scott of Jacksonville, Fla., HSD, Carpentry; Kalmece Wilson of Paducah, Ky., arrived with a HSD, Electricity; and Lamar Gordy of Chester, Pa., arrived with a HSD, Office Administration.

Congratulations to our outstanding new graduates and best wishes as you continue your education and/or begin your new careers.

Salyersville Mayor Praises Perkins for Tornado Relief Effort

Jenny Wiley, State Park Superintendent, Praises Job Corps