07-17-2006, 04:25 PM
HAGER HILL - The first cohort from the Coal Careers Program at Big Sandy Community and Technical College, part of the Kentucky Coal Academy, graduated with honors on Thursday, at the school's Hager Hill campus.
Seven young men were among the first class of this innovative new program designed to train and experience new miners to meet the needs of the coal industry today.
Representatives of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, Big Sandy Community and Technical College, East Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Booth Energy and Excel Mining joined a crowd of instructors, political leaders and well wishers to congratulate the first cohort to complete the rigorous training program set forth by the Kentucky Coal Academy.
This group began training in October 2005 with their first eight weeks in the classroom. They rotated in the classroom and in the coal mine throughout their training, working as co-op students, while being paid a training wage by the mining companies.
Dean Baldwin, Barry Bowens, Greg Hess, Jacob Price, Chris Stambaugh, John Thompson and Chris Wright all received job offers from the sponsoring coal companies, Booth Energy and Excel Mining. Dennis Hatfield from Booth Energy and Elmer Howard from Excel Mining both addressed the group and expressed their pleasure in working with the Coal Careers training program. Each of them have spent many hours working with this cohort and the cohorts that have followed them. Thanks to their efforts, the coal graduates go into the mines now as trained and experienced miners. That was not an opportunity they had before this program began.
Bobby McCool, vice president of institutional services at BSCTC, said, âWe are very proud to partner with these excellent companies to train a competent and safe workforce for the mining industry. Knowing that the earning potential of each of these graduates just went up substantially, it makes me very happy to be a part of their success. I am looking forward to continuing to offer mining training at BSCTC for other students who are following these graduates.â
The group was also addressed by Crawford Blakeman from EKCEP and Dr. Bill Higginbotham, director of the Kentucky Coal Academy, who brought greetings from Dr. Michael B. McCall, president of KCTCS, and Dr. Keith Bird, chancellor of KCTCS.
Dr. Higginbotham congratulated the graduates and commended them for paving the way for others seeking fulfilling careers in the coal industry. He charged them to remember that it will be they who will âturn on the lights in Kentuckyâ by producing the coal that makes electricity.
Machelle Holbrook, program director, thanked each graduate for their part in helping to shape the program that they had just graduated from. She told them, âYou were our testing ground and you made it possible for us to determine what we needed to teach to the groups that follow you.â
Certificates and gifts were presented by David Pelphrey and Bobby McCool to each graduate.
http://floydcountytimes.com/articles/200...news02.txt
Seven young men were among the first class of this innovative new program designed to train and experience new miners to meet the needs of the coal industry today.
Representatives of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, Big Sandy Community and Technical College, East Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Booth Energy and Excel Mining joined a crowd of instructors, political leaders and well wishers to congratulate the first cohort to complete the rigorous training program set forth by the Kentucky Coal Academy.
This group began training in October 2005 with their first eight weeks in the classroom. They rotated in the classroom and in the coal mine throughout their training, working as co-op students, while being paid a training wage by the mining companies.
Dean Baldwin, Barry Bowens, Greg Hess, Jacob Price, Chris Stambaugh, John Thompson and Chris Wright all received job offers from the sponsoring coal companies, Booth Energy and Excel Mining. Dennis Hatfield from Booth Energy and Elmer Howard from Excel Mining both addressed the group and expressed their pleasure in working with the Coal Careers training program. Each of them have spent many hours working with this cohort and the cohorts that have followed them. Thanks to their efforts, the coal graduates go into the mines now as trained and experienced miners. That was not an opportunity they had before this program began.
Bobby McCool, vice president of institutional services at BSCTC, said, âWe are very proud to partner with these excellent companies to train a competent and safe workforce for the mining industry. Knowing that the earning potential of each of these graduates just went up substantially, it makes me very happy to be a part of their success. I am looking forward to continuing to offer mining training at BSCTC for other students who are following these graduates.â
The group was also addressed by Crawford Blakeman from EKCEP and Dr. Bill Higginbotham, director of the Kentucky Coal Academy, who brought greetings from Dr. Michael B. McCall, president of KCTCS, and Dr. Keith Bird, chancellor of KCTCS.
Dr. Higginbotham congratulated the graduates and commended them for paving the way for others seeking fulfilling careers in the coal industry. He charged them to remember that it will be they who will âturn on the lights in Kentuckyâ by producing the coal that makes electricity.
Machelle Holbrook, program director, thanked each graduate for their part in helping to shape the program that they had just graduated from. She told them, âYou were our testing ground and you made it possible for us to determine what we needed to teach to the groups that follow you.â
Certificates and gifts were presented by David Pelphrey and Bobby McCool to each graduate.
http://floydcountytimes.com/articles/200...news02.txt