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Development District tour showcases Belmont College

T-L Photo/ROBERT A. DEFRANK Belmont College Energy Institute Manager Ed Mowrer, left, shows Jeannette Wierzbicki, president of the Development District Association of Appalachia, and others around the college’s labs during a tour Tuesday.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Belmont College instructors demonstrated Tuesday how they have used state funding to better prepare students for the jobs that are opening across the region today.

The Development District Association of Appalachia is hosting its annual meeting in Cambridge this year with Ohio Mid-Eastern Governments Association Executive Director Jeannette Wierzbicki as the current president of that organization. She included a tour of Belmont College in this year’s events to showcase the accomplishments of the institution’s various projects.

Belmont College Energy Institute Manager Ed Mowrer took visitors on a tour of the labs and spoke about new equipment and programs.

“We’re really excited to host,” Mowrer said of the DDAA group. “They have been involved with a lot of the funding that has come to the college over the last several years, and we’re very pleased to show off some of the things that we’re doing.”

Holding up a humble piece of Utica Shale, Mowrer described how the “oil and gas revolution” has changed the face of the Ohio Valley and underlined the important role institutions like Belmont College play in preparing students for career openings in these fields.

He pointed out new and updated training for the electronics programs, as well as new degrees such as Instrumentation and Control for operating a manufacturing facility, and energy and natural resources.

“Several years ago we met with members of the oil and gas industry and said, ‘What do you want our students to have?’ And as a result of that we developed several new degrees,” Mowrer said.

He pointed out an industrial robot arm that cost about $18,000 and said the students use a 3-D printer to manufacture parts and build robot arms.

“Students are getting exposed to current technology,” Mowrer said. “When the gas and oil came in, they were buying all state-of-the-art technology, so we’re able to provide training for our students in the … equipment they’ll be seeing when they graduate.”

“You go to any industry, they’re moving more and more to automation,” Ben Hitt, assistant professor of industrial electronics, said, adding that the training he provides can be used at chemical plants along the Ohio River. “In the time that I’ve been here, I’ve had maybe six people that’s completed the industrial electronics (program) here get jobs in those places.”

Melissa Rataiczak, director of the commercial driver’s license program, said the program has several trucks that can be used on well pads or over the road. She said the five-week class costs about $6,000 and can take four students per class at one time; classes are full until the end of October.

She added that the two full-time trainers and additional part-time trainers are all experienced drivers. In addition to operating their vehicles, students are taught to recognize the signs of human trafficking while at truck stops and other locations.

Mowrer said the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted student enrollment, and many young people find jobs after high school and do not seek higher education until later.

“Our enrollment has been down, but now it’s started to tick back up,” he said, adding that last year there were 14 students enrolled in the industrial electronics program.

“I want the folks in this room to know why we selected Belmont College to showcase,” Wierzbicki said. “Great programs, but every program Ed and Ben mentioned are in-demand professions in our region, and so Belmont College has very successful partnerships with the industries and professional organizations within this area, and I think this makes them very successful. Every grant we have been involved with them on, they have met or exceeded their outcomes.”

Afterward, Wierzbicki said the Governor’s Office of Appalachia has invested about $500,000 into the college, with close to $1 million coming from the Appalachian Regional Commission.

The tour also included health care labs funded by state grants, and the heating, ventilation and air conditioning building that was set up two years ago that the college already has outgrown. He mentioned new simulator mannequins and X-ray machines, as well as new welding equipment for the welding program.

“That’s meeting the needs of the Ohio Valley, and our students are in great demand. Our HVAC students have had 100 percent placement over the last several years,” Mowrer said, noting the demand is also high for engineering and industrial electronics workers. “Constantly I’m getting calls from employers saying, ‘Don’t you have any more graduates?'”

“It looks like they’re really targeting the need for people to get a job. … You can go to work straight out of this college,” John Tuggle of the Region 4 Planning and Development Council in West Virginia, said.

“It’s very impressive,” Jeff Box, CEO of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Alliance, said. “It’s great that (Ohio Mid-Eastern Governments Association) is supporting Belmont College and creating the opportunity for students to gain employment in the jobs that are open in this region.”

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