Plumbing grant awarded to Wisconsin technical college

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Mid-State Technical College (MSTC) received a grant for $11,200 from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development that will go toward the plumbing apprenticeship program.

The funding is part of a $6 million Sector Alliance for the Green Economy (SAGE) grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to support “green” training in apprenticeship fields.

“The grant will purchase equipment for the technical college to purchase a solar thermal education simulation device,” says Jim Schnaedter, MSTC associate dean of business and apprenticeship. “The students will put it together, and then it will be used on a continual basis each year to train students on solar thermal energy.” The simulator will create solar energy from the sun to heat water.

All 16 technical colleges in Wisconsin offer a plumbing apprenticeship program. There are currently eight students enrolled in MSTC’s plumbing program, which is low due to the decline in the housing market, says Schnaedter. The college has had as many as 40 students at one time in the apprenticeship.

MSTC has an annual enrollment of more than 9,000 students at campuses in Marshfield, Stevens Point, Wisconsin Rapids and Adams County.

“The grant is going to introduce students to technology they probably haven’t seen before,” says Schnaedter. “In regard to renewable energy and the SAGE grant, it’s not new people learning how to install renewable units, it’s going to be the current construction trade, like plumbers and electricians, that are installing the TVs and solar thermal systems. They have the experience so they’re basically learning a new skill rather than completely learning how to deal with electrical or plumbing.”

More information on plumbing apprenticeship programs is available from the Wisconsin Technical Colleges website



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