FDTC event helps educators prepare students for employment

FLORENCE — Career specialists, guidance counselors and work force agencies from across the Pee Dee participated in Thursday’s Manufacturing Career Fair, which was aimed at educating those who prepare students and adults for employment on the skills needed to get jobs.

Cheryl Lewis, coordinator of the Pee Dee Regional Education Center, said the fair, which was held at the Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing and Technology, was a time for manufacturers to share information with educators and others about the skills and training required for available careers in the region.

“Educators have to understand what’s going on in these industries so they can teach the students about it,” she said.

Sara Orlowski, career specialist at Hartsville High School in Darlington County School District, agreed that educators have to be prepared themselves for what’s available as a career.

“If we don’t know what’s out there as career specialists, how are we going to relay that to our students?” Orlowski asked. “That’s one of our primary jobs, is to help these students figure out what they want to do when they get out of school.”

Orlowski said every skill level is represented in a manufacturing field, and there’s a variety of opportunities available to students they may not have known about. She said Thursday’s fair helped her keep up-to-date with what is required in the areas of soft skills, technical skills and education requirements.

Orlowkski’s job as a career specialist is part of the state’s effort to create an educated work force with the passage of the Education and Economic Development Act of 2005 (Personal Pathways to Success).

The act is meant to give all students across the state the tools they need to make productive career plans starting in the eighth grade. The act established Pathways to help students and businesses work together to ensure that students receive the guidance and experience they’ll need once they complete high school.

Lorenza Bowen, of Zebra Custom Designs/Got Signs in Sumter, said he has found that some young adults don’t always possess the skills needed to be successful in the work force.

“I find young adults who come to me looking for employment (or) looking to get in the graphics field and you find so many who don’t have the background required to work,” he said. “They may have the artistic skills, but they haven’t gotten the (education) ... to work in the field.”

Bowen said the opportunity to speak with ones who are educating future employees was important and necessary in order to prepare students for work.

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Personal Pathways to Success, http://personalpathways.sc.gov