Submitted by Sydney Rhue
WEST COLUMBIA, SC – The Lexington Two Innovation Center is preparing its students to fill jobs in industries critical to continued growth and success in South Carolina.
Since its opening in 2018, the center has worked to help students develop new skills to prepare them for the workforce.
According to the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce, “critical needs” jobs account for 45 percent of the workforce, while only 29 percent of people have the necessary skills to fill these jobs.
Through such courses as Welding, Construction, Electricity, Firefighting, and Health Science, the Innovation Center is developing students ready to be part of fields that support the state’s growth.
The Lexington Two Innovation Center serves to “showcase a lot of different trades,” said welding instructor Laird Thompson, and for employers it is “important to come to one place and see focus in one area.” Thompson said the Innovation Center also serves to “help industries with looking for them.”
Thompson said students at the center complete curriculum that encompasses over 480 hours of experiential learning and technical skill development and noted that employability is one of the most important skills a student will learn during their time at the Innovation Center. Students learn about the industries in a classroom setting before moving into labs for hands-on learning.
Students are evaluated in the five areas: time management, preparedness, willingness to learn, teamwork, and social skills. In addition to those technical skills, students learn how to develop soft skills to be used in any job experience.
Thompson said the Innovation Center helps “fulfill and prepare them to be put into those environments and be craft ready.”
While teaching students about the various industries, instructors at the Innovation Center also incorporate real-world applications.
“If we’re going to be successful, we have to promote them, have to teach them the basics,” said electricity instructor Kyle Caughman.
Caughman said the Innovation Center’s impact has been seen not only in the students but also the greater Lexington County and South Carolina community.
“Lots of times [students] have jobs before they leave here,” Caughman said, noting that of the 13 students he taught last year, about had eight or nine received such job opportunities.
Caughman said that students have been given work contracts and opportunities that allowed them to get their degree and work experience at the same time. He said that in one instance an employer offered to pay for one of his former students to get a degree at Midlands Technical College. Another student recently was offered the opportunity to work with Tesla.
Thompson said that over the years he has seen a growing gap in the labor market in some skilled trades, while noting the center is actively combatting that gap by developing students ready to work in these fields..
For employers, the Innovation Center serves as a source of finding talent.
“(Employers are able to) get future kids right here, [they] don’t have to go 30, 40 miles,” Caughman said.
Thompson said that ultimately the Innovation Center has helped set students apart from other job applicants.
“I want my student to be successful in the community,” said Thompson.
Sydney Rhue is a rising senior sport and entertainment management student in the University of South Carolina Honors College. Reach her at [email protected] .