Calhoun Community College and Sonoco are excited to celebrate the graduates of its newly created Industrial Maintenance Mechanic Apprenticeship Program.
“Over the past several years, we have made significant investments in establishing programs to support the growth and development of our employees through collaboration with our local high schools, community colleges, as well as the Alabama Office of Apprenticeship,” commented Brian Kilpatrick, Sonoco Director of Operations. “This AOA (Alabama Office of Apprenticeship) Maintenance Apprenticeship & Pre-apprentice program is a perfect example of how a company ‘builds its own talent’ with the support of local primary, secondary school systems and financial support from the State,” added Kilpatrick.
The initiative for this program began when several leaders from Calhoun, Sonoco, Cerro Wire, Hartselle City Schools, and the AOA met to strategize about workforce development. Discussions about how the team could enhance the existing Tiger Launch high school co-op program by creating pre-apprentice opportunities for the students were at the top of the agenda. After three years of navigating through the pandemic, the AOA maintenance apprenticeship was established to help set the stage for Sonoco to sponsor the pre-apprentice program.
According to Kelli Morris, Calhoun Director of Career Services, the college became a registered apprenticeship sponsor in December of 2020 through the AOA, making this apprenticeship with Sonoco and Calhoun serving in the technical training and sponsor role a first.
A graduation ceremony was held at Sonoco’s Tiger Launch Training facility recognizing Bryan Lee Garber, Tyler Thomas Cartee, and Thomas Lamar Prus as the program’s first three of five graduates. The program plans to use its leverage to create a similar program that will assist in developing future operations management leaders.
“Many employers have apprenticeship programs with the college and can recruit, train, and retain highly skilled workers for their company,” says Morris. “Not only are our students able to combine paid-on-the-job learning through our apprenticeship programs, but they are also placing themselves in positions to find a career in which they can grow,” she added.
To learn more about this apprenticeship program, or others at Calhoun, visit https://calhoun.edu/career-services.
About Sonoco
Sonoco is a multi-billion-dollar global provider of consumer packaging, industrial products and packaging supply chain services. Sonoco has over 19,000 employees operating in over 300 operations across 34 countries. The Reels & Plugs Division of Sonoco consists of 5 manufacturing sites (3 of them in Hartselle, AL) and produces reels that are used for packaging in the Wire & Cable industry.
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