Sequoyah High School student Cheyenne Laws demonstrates some of the skills she has learned in her CSCC Mechatronics class to other high school students.
Cleveland State Community College provided a LEAP Day event during the Monroe County Center Advisory Council Meeting. Representatives from CSCC highlighted the work that is being done to eliminate the skills gap in East Tennessee as a result of the Labor Education Alignment Program (LEAP) 2.0 grant funds that CSCC was awarded last year.
CSCC and Pellissippi State received a LEAP 2.0 Grant in the amount of approximately $1M with CSCC receiving almost half of that. CSCC purchased approximately $300,000 in equipment for training programs at the Monroe County Center. Participants at LEAP Day were able to go on a student-guided tour of the newly equipped classrooms and see current students demonstrate the skills they have learned thus far.
LEAP Day also included the biannual Advisory Council Meeting which provided leaders from manufacturing, business, education, local and state government to engage in a roundtable discussion about current workforce trends and needs in this region.
Dr. Bill Seymour welcomed the group and said, “Two great things happened here last year. One, we got the deed for the property, so we are very appreciative to the TRDA for that, but we also got the LEAP Grant along with Pellissippi State. We have now started fulfilling the vision of what this center can be in this area…It’s great to see students here because that’s really what this is all about.
“At Cleveland State, we know that a good, quality education leads to great careers, and great careers build stronger families and stronger communities, and that’s really what a community college is all about.”