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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

Media Reports Promote MCC Course; Students Finish with Green Job Offers


Seven students who completed MCC’s six-month Energy Efficiency Specialist course on Friday, July 30, have been offered jobs in the home energy industry even before their final day of class. Their academic accomplishments were recognized by MCC faculty and staff and industry professionals at a Friday graduation event in Phelps -- and by the local media last week.

-- WROC-TV News 8 interviewed two students and Tom Fitch, program director for the Office of Workforce Development, and mentioned the course as part of its segment on green jobs in its 11 p.m. broadcast on Wednesday.

-- WXXI AM 1370 News aired a report about the impact of the MCC course in its 7 p.m. broadcast Friday. Curtis Yankton, 28, of Auburn, who is beginning a career as home energy auditor with Halco, talked about losing his job to outsourcing, then gaining a whole set of new skills to become employable. The report also included an interview with Tom, whose key message was captured: MCC puts displaced workers back into the workforce.

Previously displaced workers in manufacturing, factory maintenance, retail and food service, these students received in-classroom education and fieldwork training at the Finger Lakes Home Performance Training Center since February. They are now starting careers as home energy auditors and contractors, building analysts, and energy-efficiency technicians within the nine-county region. Their achievements are a result of Tom’s and the Office of Workforce Development staff’s success in working closely with the home energy industry to meet employers’ increased needs for skilled workers.

Hency Yuen-Eng
College and Community Relations
08/02/2010