PROSPER®

EDUCATION --- EXCELLENCE MATTERS
From
School to
Work
PRODUCING HIGHLY SKILLED
WORKERS FOR HIGH-PAYING JOBS
By Julie Edgar
KELSEY ERNE LOVES WELDING.
It’s a good thing. Welders are in demand in Oakland County — and
statewide. So are people skilled in automotive repair and robotics.
The state is responding with programs that have been heartily
embraced by Oakland County, which facilitates partnerships between
industry and schools. That is creating a pipeline to jobs that offer a
robust paycheck and room to advance.
Schools like Oakland Community College are seeing an uptick
in the number of students entering various apprentice and certificate
programs to prepare for high-wage jobs that have become increasingly
available. Oakland Schools, which serves K-12 students, is also offering
its students more opportunities to learn new, in-demand skills.
Paul Galbenski
Kelsey Erne
Erne, 22, was among the 45 students accepted last year into
OCC’s Michigan Advanced Technician Training Program (Mat2).
The 2-year-old statewide initiative has employers covering tuition
and providing wages while students follow an on-again, off-again
work-study schedule.
Erne is in the second year of mechatronics, which focuses on
integrated mechanical, electrical and electronics applications. She
works in the maintenance department at Auburn Hills-based Brose
fixing sensors and the like, while taking classes in everything from
welding to robotics to ethics.
“Most of my friends don’t really get what I’m doing,” Erne says.
“When I tell them the basics — that my school is paid for, that I
don’t have to buy my books and that I get an hourly wage, and at
the end of three years of work and school I get a job, they say, ‘Oh
my God, that’s insane.’ ’’
Erne will finish OCC with an associate degree in applied sciences
and a certificate in mechatronics. She’ll work for two more years
at Brose — that’s part of the contract — and possibly longer, if the
company wants to keep her on.
Not surprisingly, the program is gaining in popularity.
“Our apprentice numbers are growing constantly,” says Deborah
Bayer, OCC’s dean of public services, noting that the college has
added three introductory welding courses in the last two semesters.
On the high school level in Oakland County, Mat2 draws from
Oakland Schools. Along with mechatronics, the program focuses on
Photos: Jake Turskey
68 OAKLANDCOUNTYPROSPER.COM 2016