© 2024 KUNR
Illustration of rolling hills with occasional trees and a radio tower.
Serving Northern Nevada and the Eastern Sierra
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
iPhone users: Having trouble listening live on KUNR.org? Click here to download our app to listen to your favorite shows.

Training High School Students For High-Tech Jobs

A new program is exposing Washoe County high school students to high-tech career training. Reno Public Radio’s Anh Gray has more.

As Northern Nevada’s economy is diversifying, more technical jobs will become available at companies like Tesla and Switch. Dean Jim New is with TMCC's Applied Technology Center.

“When we hear about these big companies coming into town, and the number of jobs that they’re going to produce, often the majority of those jobs will be at the technician level," New says,  "and that’s what we train for.” 

Starting next fall, Technical Pathway is a new program that will be available to juniors attending TMCC High School. New says students in this program would get basic training that’s tailored to the demands of specific fields like manufacturing, welding and operating unmanned aerial vehicles.

“We not only meet with the employers, but we also align many of programs with industry certifications that the employers identify with being valuable, ” New says.

The William N. Pennington Foundation provided TMCC with a $4.3 million grant to expand workforce training in Northern Nevada.

Anh Gray is a former contributing editor at KUNR Public Radio.