MCCTC students get on-site training

CANFIELD — Three Mahoning County Career & Technical Center students spent eight weeks this summer connecting what they have learned in class with what they needed on the job.

Carmen Arsuffi of South Range and Dan Chizmar and Frank Ancrile, both of Boardman, are all seniors in the MCCTC electricity program. They were selected to participate in a School-to-Work program launched this year.

The students were given an opportunity to work side by side with professional electricians on residential installations. Two electrical contractors, Gulu Electric and Joe Dickey Electric, Inc., employed the students, who were selected for the School-to-Work program by their instructor, Mark Brooker.

Ed Emerick, training director for the Mahoning-Trumbull Electrical Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee, coordinated the program.

His organization is sponsored by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 64 and the Mahoning Valley National Electrical Contractors Association. Emerick synchronized the needs of the union, the contractors and the MCCTC electricity program.

Even though the School-to-Work program is in its infancy, it worked very well, Emerick said, adding, “We want it to grow.”

“While the program gives students a valuable introduction to the work force before they graduate, it doesn’t replace a high school education,” he said.