Tobin: OCtech ready to prepare workforce for incoming jobs

ST. MATTHEWS — Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College can play a pivotal role in preparing the area residents for employment at Boeing Aeropace Corporation and other companies locating in the region, OCtech President Dr. Walt Tobin said at a faith-based brunch last week.

St. Matthews Mayor Helen Carson Peterson contacted the church leaders in the community to arrange the brunch so Tobin could discuss the college’s job training opportunities with them.

Tobin said OCtech will play an important part in employment in the community in the next five years, which he said should see an additional 30,000 jobs generated in The Times and Democrat Region.

New companies are locating in the area to support Boeing as it grows in the Charleston area, he said.

Tobin said Boeing will have five times the impact that BMW has had in the upstate of South Carolina. He said 65 percent of local residents have no secondary training, noting that OCtech can prepare those residents for the incoming jobs.

“We’ve got to prepare our people for the future,” Tobin said.

The local school districts and OCtech are partnering in a program through which students can complete their first year toward a two-year associate’s degree while still in high school, Tobin noted.

He said it’s important to make the community aware of this opportunity.

“This will help break the cycle of poverty,” Tobin said.

Peterson said, “This is economic, which will provide for a lifetime of gainful employment.”