First Lady Jill Biden tours Augusta Tech, talks workforce development

A previous version of this story incorrectly gendered one of the students, it has been corrected and the Chronicle regrets the error.

First Lady Dr. Jill Biden got her first soldering lesson at Augusta Technical College on Tuesday.

Sitting beside the 12- to 14-year-old local students attending the Cougar Manufacturing Class, she tried her hand at connecting an LED before remarking it was unlikely she'd get a job with her electronic skills.

"I mean, if you're looking for a job we can train you," said David Ray, the general manager at Cyber City Circuits who was teaching the camp.

That was precisely what brought the First Lady to Augusta — the city's role as one of five federally-designated Investing in America Workforce Hubs, a program to develop the next generation of the workforce in advanced manufacturing and other high-wage occupations. In addition to Augusta, Phoenix, Columbus (Ohio), Baltimore and Pittsburgh were all selected as hubs, and the first lady intended to fly to Pittsburgh later on Tuesday.

"Through this (workforce) initiative, we're focusing on key cities that have received significant investment from the federal government and private companies," Biden told a gathering of more than 300 local dignitaries and others after her tour. "Here that means a growing clean energy industry ... but in order to keep this progress, employers need more skilled workers."

To get those workers, Biden said, there needs to be accessible job training opportunities and strong education, from universal pre-K to high school students earning college credits, and low-cost community colleges.

"For most people, a high school diploma alone, it just isn't enough," Biden said. "But that doesn't mean that there's only one pathway to success."

Biden, herself an educator at a community college, was joined on this visit by U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk, as well as Augusta Tech's Dr. Jermaine Whirl and Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson. There was a particular focus on the new Solvay Specialty Polymer company, which is getting a $178 million grant toward a new plant to manufacture materials for electric batteries.

"It’s the future of our workforce, and ... I know you've heard (President Joe Biden) say this a million times, how we build our economy from the bottom up and the middle out," she told the crowd after running through the administration's educational policies. "Things like unemployment rates and jobs, they're not just numbers. They represent people; families trying to make a good life."

The next generation of advanced workers

Biden, Cardona and Turk not only met the students at the Cougar class, they also got to see some Augusta Tech students operate and troubleshoot a miniature assembly line for a pneumatic control valve, overseen by Ted Herlo, department head at the School of Aviation, Industrial and Engineering Technology. Biden pushed the start button, and the students, Dustin Phillips and Patrick Kling, talked her through the process.

The line was programmed to fail, and the students showed Biden how they evaluated the flaw and fixed it.

“And here we have the finished product,” Phillips said to the applauding local dignitaries after clearing the line.

Phillips is a former U.S. Marine, he told Biden, looking to get a job at Plant Vogtle where he expects to make up to $50 per hour. Kling grew up on a farm working on electronics, and Herlo worked as a gunner's mate for 21 years in the U.S. Navy before going into private industry and eventually returning to Tech, his alma mater, to teach.

“Out in the industry, these guys are a rarity,” Herlo said of his students. “And old folks like me, we’re going out to the pasture. ... They need to have the interest, the zeal, the drive, and I love to share that.”

Cardona and Turk were enthusiastic, shaking hands with students and pointing out a better way to wear the electronic Cougar badges the middle schoolers were soldering together.

“She and our president get it; they get that investing in education is investing in America,” Cardona told the audience after the tour. “When we give students the knowledge and skills to get great jobs today and tomorrow, we invest in America. When we invest in giving our students more opportunities for hands-on learning, like the advanced manufacturing boot camps that Augusta Tech offers, we can give students careers they might not have known existed.”

As for the students, they were excited about the skills they were learning.

Ryder Knight, one of the students, helped Biden as the First Lady attempted soldering, which was “exciting,” Knight said.

“I got hugged by the First Lady, twice,” Conner Valentine, another student offered.

Tristen Thompson said he wants to get involved in writing code.

“I want to like help design different (tech) companies,” Aaliyah Harden, another student said.

All of them will likely be able to solder connections more effectively than the First Lady learned to in her brief visit, whatever career they pursue.

“Augusta being one of the five manufacturing hubs in the country is huge,” Ray, the instructor, told the Chronicle afterwards. “You’re not going to recognize this city in 20 years … it’s going to be revolutionary to the city and the CSRA.”

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Jill Biden talks workforce development, manufacturing in Augusta,