East Side Baptist Church Pastor Matt Smith tries out a welding simulator with assistance from Wallace State Community College student Tyler Short at the Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce’s Biscuits & Business Thursday morning.

Members of the Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce got a hands-on demonstration of some of the technology that Wallace State Community College uses for workforce development during the Chamber’s quarterly Biscuits and Business meeting Thursday morning.

The event featured demonstrations of the simulators that are used by Wallace students every day, and WWCC Dean of Applied Technologies Jimmy Hodges and Director of Workforce Training Solutions Austin Monk spoke to the attendees about some of the certifications that the school offers and workforce development programs that are available for prospective students and a few of the partnerships that the school has with local schools and businesses.

“All of our programs are in high demand, and we’re really excited about that,” Hodges said. 

Wallace State has a partnership with Cullman County Schools for the Fast Track for Industry program, which has a building on campus with English, math, history and science teachers who let eleventh and twelfth graders go to their standard high school classes while they are also dual enrolled in a WWCC industrial program, Hodges said.

“It’s been a very successful program so far,” he said. “And if a student plans it out right, they can earn their associate degree and their high school diploma simultaneously.”

Manufacturing jobs are already in high demand, and with Toyota and Mazda set to build a $1.6 billion car plant in the Huntsville area that will create 4,000 new jobs for the area, that demand will only keep growing, Monk said.

He said Wallace State is helping prepare future workers with the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council Certified Production Technician credential, which teaches students all of the basics of a manufacturing job, he said.

“This tool that we have is going to spread all across the state,” he said. “We’re going to be able to provide those production workers.”

Monk said Wallace State has also begun working with Cullman County schools with manufacturing training at the Cullman Area Technology Academy, and high schoolers can be ready for the workforce as soon as they graduate.

“They can take this credential course and be ready and able to do anything they need to do in that manufacturing environment,” he said.

Hodges said Wallace has placed a manufacturing instructor at the CATA, and that is a new career focus for the career centering that has everyone excited for the future of its students.

“There’s an excitement abuzz at that Career Tech Center that you would not believe,” he said. “It’s going to give those students a leg up so that they will be employable on day one.”