Truckee Meadows Community College will use a $4.3 million gift to help high school students prepare for jobs in what is shaping up to be a demanding technical industry in northern Nevada. Reno Public Radio’s Esther Ciammachilli has that story.
The grant is the largest gift TMCC has ever received. The money will allow the school to inaugurate the Technical Pathway program and begin the second phase of renovations to the Edison site, the school’s center for technical training.
The Pathway program is a collaboration between the Washoe County School District and TMCC. It’s a dual-credit system that allows high school juniors the opportunity to study a technical trade while also working on toward graduation. So, at the end of two years…
“…They will be able to graduate with a high school diploma in one hand and a certificate in one of the technical pathway areas in another hand.”
That’s Gretchen Sawyer, executive director of the TMCC Foundation. She says this will give students the option to either enter the workforce immediately, or go to college.
The program is designed to ensure companies like Tesla and Switch will have a skilled pool of applicants from northern Nevada. Sawyer says the first program begins in the fall of 2016 and will accommodate just 50 high school juniors.