SCC receives funding from Metallica's foundation

Aug. 11—The Free Press

NORTH MANKATO — A heavy metal band's foundation recently awarded South Central College $100,000.

SCC is among 42 community colleges that are recipients of awards from California-based Metallica's foundation, All Within My Hands, a multimillion-dollar investment in critical workforce programs at community colleges nationwide.

"The Metallica Scholars Initiative is so important to us because we are seeing results. Five years in, with the help of community colleges across the country, we are helping people fill these essential jobs which require skills and training. We are so proud and grateful that we can facilitate this program," Metallica's Lars Ulrich, the band's drummer and co-founder, stated in a press release.

"We are grateful to the Metallica Scholars Initiative for making scholarships available for these certificate programs, which enable students to become career-ready in their chosen field in a relatively short time period," Annette Parker, president of South Central College, stated in the release. She said such programs help create an educated workforce with skills necessary to regional employers.

SCC was selected from a pool of applicants to receive funding to support students pursuing specific certificate programs in high-demand industries. The college will begin awarding the scholarships during the fall semester to new students pursuing advanced agriculture technician certificates at SCC's North Mankato campus or machine tool technology "Right Skills Now" certificates at its Faribault campus.

More certificate programs will be eligible for the scholarship program in the spring semester.