Hi. I'm Ed Keener, Assistant Professor of Engineering at Luzerne County Community College. A lot of our students are hands-on learners, and our programs are structured that way. On average our programs around 70% hands-on, we believe that the only way you learn how to do these things is by physically doing them. You're going to practice your craft, you're going to run a machine, you're going to weld, you're going to work at a computer and design something so you perfect your craft. Welding is one of those areas where the students spend more time in the welding lab physically welding than they do in a classroom learning book knowledge. In engineering, design, and manufacturing, they literally take an idea from their head into a computer to a physical part. They have to do a prototype of it and usually using 3D printing, and then take that part once it's proven that it is correct to physically make that part on a milling machine, or a lathe, or a computer controlled router.
The opportunities are amazing right now in northeastern Pennsylvania for students with manufacturing related skills. We have more employers looking for students than we have actual students to give them. Our goal is always employment. A lot of our students are hired before they graduate, or they have an opportunity in front of them as soon as they graduate that they can walk into. We don't want to teach them how to do a job for just today. We want them to be able to grow as the industry changes. But in a short two year period, you're on a career path. They're my happiest times as a teacher when you hear five years later from a student who have taken what knowledge you've given them and grown with that and built a life for themselves. Put a nice roof over their head, driving a nice car, have a family, you know the things that we all aspire to do in life.
