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Teachers tour growing Blackstone Valley industries.Time was when high school kids in the Blackstone Valley knew exactly what they'd be doing after graduation: working in one of the local mills. Then the mills left and so did the young people, off to college and careers in the big cities and booming metropolitan suburbs. The Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce Education Foundation wanted to show local teachers that the cycle has evolved further. Kids can now look forward to returning to their Blackstone Valley communities for rewarding, upwardly mobile careers in banking and finance, health care, and yes - manufacturing. On April 13, 22 teachers, guidance counselors, and administrators toured three businesses as part of the Blackstone Valley Growth Industries Teacher Tour, sponsored in part by Verizon. The educators came from Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School, Blackstone-Millville Regional High School, Grafton High School, Hopedale High School, Millbury High School, Nipmuc Regional High School, Northbridge Public Schools, and Uxbridge High School and Whitin Middle School. The tour started at UniBank's Whitinsville headquarters. Board chairman Ken Redding described the breadth of financial services provided by this community-based mutual. UniBank's operations range from retail banking to municipal banking to fiscal advisory services to luxury boat and recreational vehicle loans, from New England to Florida to California. "We're sitting in Whitinsville today, but UniBank has become a very diverse organization that spreads across the country," said Redding. Many of the jobs at UniBank require financial knowledge or information technology skills. But not every career path in banking requires a college degree. Chris Foley, vice president for branch administration, said what he looks for in hiring entry-level tellers is someone with a customer service orientation who has good attention to detail. He described how he started his career as a summer teller at the former Shawmut Bank while a college student in Boston. Foley said, "There's a lot of upward mobility [in banking] because it's constantly changing." Senior Vice President Laura Bronwell offered an important tip to share with any young person thinking about applying for a job at a bank: Dress nicely, speak and write clearly, and be prepared to be interviewed on the spot when you come in to fill out an application. "Applicants disqualify themselves before they fill out the forms if they don't look the part," she said. At the tour's next stop, Lampin Corporation's President Scott Rossiter announced, "Manufacturing is alive and well and growing in New England." That's a surprising statement to consumers used to seeing most tools and products stamped Made in China. The Uxbridge manufacturer of medical and technical tool components agreed that high-volume, low-technology jobs have disappeared from the U.S. and aren't coming back. The growth area is in precision manufacturing and customer service. After Rossiter, General Manager Rick Mongeau and Foreman Richard Houle led tours of the plant and its machines costing hundreds of thousands of dollars each, the teachers could see why it was such a skilled field. Manufacturers are looking for employees with engineering, CAD and other technical skills. Many of Lampin's employees are graduates of Blackstone Valley Tech and Community College of Rhode Island. But the most important qualities according to Rossiter are teamwork, communication, and a willingness to learn. Students with a scientific bent and an interest in working with people have tremendous career opportunities in health care, as the teachers learned at their last stop, Milford Regional Medical Center. President Frank Saba and Vice President for Human Resources Linda Greason welcomed the teachers, and then turned the program over to department directors in nursing, physical and occupational therapy, nuclear medicine, ultrasound, radiology, pharmacy, and laboratories. The range of education requirements in health care begins with on-the-job training for pharmacy technicians, one-year diploma programs for licensed practical nurses, and associate's degrees for therapy assistants. These jobs usually pay between $9.00 and $15.00 an hour. On the high end, pharmacists and nuclear medicine imaging specialists can make over $100,000 a year. Of course, these jobs require years of advanced education. With an aging population, almost any health care career is in high demand. The Blackstone Valley is humming again with industry. Instead of the spindle and the lathe, the knowledge fields are driving this economic revolution. For many of today's students' career paths, there's no place like home. "Focus on Education" April 2005 Read previous Focus on Education articles...
Six years of focusing on education. (November 2006) |
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Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce
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