The Savannah River Site (SRS) Apprenticeship School at Aiken Technical College celebrated the Nov. 18 start of National Apprenticeship Week.
Joining the celebration were Augusta Technical College and Denmark Technical College, both of which are partners in the school.
There are approximately 100 students enrolled in the apprenticeship school. It provides training in several fields, including Facility/Production Operator and Maintenance Mechanic.
“I’m here mostly for professional growth and providing for my family and just making a difference in the community,” Auston Prather, 33, told ABD. “I grew up in this area. I’ve heard a lot about Savannah River Nuclear Solutions and I’m glad to be a part of something that’s helping make a change, not only in my community, but also nationally as well.”
For Jequez Harris, 28, it is all about learning.
“I kind of like to figure out a bunch of things, so it was just something interesting and new for me to try,” he said. “I feel like everything can be improved and everything can be better. So, I want to know what is their plan on making it better, and what is their plan on teaching us to be the most successful we can.”
Dr. Steven Simmons, Dean of the Technical and Continuing Education Division at Aiken Technical College, said this is an especially critical time for SRS. With new and continuing missions, coupled with the retirement of longtime employees, the site is in hiring mode across the facility.
“There’s a large need to hire technical workers to come for areas such as operations, welding, and industrial maintenance. There’s just a large number of opportunities out there,” he explained. “So, we partner with the major contractors out there to develop an apprenticeship program to identify individuals who want to become operators, send them through a six-month program where they are coming to us for their technical education and then also going through training at the site.”
Prather and Harris are considered “non-traditional” students, individuals who are beyond their high school years and looking for new challenges.
Simmons says traditional students, those still in high school and middle school, will always be sought after by technical colleges, however, non-traditional students are the wave of the future for the moment.
“Oftentimes, individuals will have a very high credential, but their experience doesn’t quite match up with the model today,” he said. “The model today is you’re working full time and going to school part-time, and you’re building your education and your experience at the same time. So, apprenticeship is certainly kind of the wave of the future, because their education and learning doesn’t stop here.”
Prather said it is particularly helpful for the apprenticeship school to be available in local technical colleges.
“It promotes growth within the community. A lot of people move to Aiken, just for this particular job. So, it’s extremely important that we have something like this, especially for the younger generations, to be able to aspire, to look forward, to do something that makes an impact, not only in the community, but also nationally as well,” he said.
In addition to new missions coming to SRS, there are large-scale, ongoing missions. One of the largest is the conversion of the failed Mixed Oxide (MOX) facility to begin Pit production. SRS leadership has estimated that more than 9,000 new jobs will be created to support the site.
