JCHS tour skill-based career paths through mobile workshop
Jefferson County High School students performed surgeries, drove commercial trucks, solved plumbing puzzles, installed solar panels and more during a recent visit by Be Pro Be Proud Georgia’s mobile workshop.
The visit, sponsored by the Jefferson County Development Authority, allowed students to use a variety of virtual tools to explore several different career opportunities available through skilled trades.
“It was a really good event that gave students some insight into careers that maybe they were not aware of before and opened their eyes to experiences they may want to explore,” said Donna Warner, JCHS’ Career Technical and Agricultural Education Director. “I feel like it was money well spent and invested in our students. The favorites were the commercial truck driving simulation and the virtual reality simulation that gave students an opportunity to do surgery on a car crash victim.”
Reggie Lagrone, tour manager for Be Pro Be Proud Georgia, said that this particular mobile workshop, supported by the Cherokee Office of Economic Development, has been serving Georgia students for four years.
“I talk to all the students and help them understand that there are many different ways to success and those different pathways don’t always require a four-year college degree,” Lagrone said. “There are alternatives that are equally profitable, lucrative and successful in the skilled trades.”
Lagrone went on to explain that the current demand for skilled trades is high and the supply is low.
“I encourage students to be the producer,” he said. “If you’ve got the skill, you’re the producer. If you don’t have the skill, you’re going to be the consumer.”
Lagrone’s mobile workshop offers students the chance to try their skills on a commercial truck driving simulator, a health and medical technician station, a virtual welding system and a plumbing wall simulation. The workshop uses Oculus Quest virtual reality goggles and systems to simulate emergency room visits, heavy equipment operation, automotive work, installation of solar panels, fire safety and hospitality.
“Students can get a hands-on experience through these simulations helping perform a knee surgery or assisting as an EMT would at the site of a car crash,” Lagrone said. “Everything here connects back to actual skilled trades.”
An automation and robotics piece simulation gives students a look at web developing, computer programming and automation.
“These are all high-paying skill trade jobs that available right now,” Lagrone told JCHS students. “ It doesn’t take as long to start making money (in the trades) and you don’t have to pay to learn the skills. You can have equally as lucrative a career and be equally as successful with a career in the skilled trades if you went to college and got a four-year degree.”
He encouraged students to think about the skills and talents they already have and what skills they would like to add to their repertoire.
“You want to take your skills, your talent and your passion and apply it to where there is a need. Where there is a need there is an opportunity to make money,” Lagrone said.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: JCHS tour skill-based career paths through mobile workshop
