Live! Inside the Skilled Trades Center

In this series, we provide a closer look at hands-on learning during COVID-19.

While COVID-19 means online learning for most Tidewater Community College students, some are back in the classroom for hands-on training. In fact, more than 400 sections of classes in interior design, automotive, health professions, welding, veterinary technology, culinary arts, visual arts, electronics technology and other programs have on-campus components.

Inside a sheet metal fabrication class at the Skilled Trades Center

Sheet metal specialists are responsible for the majority of the interior finish work on Navy vessels. The two-week training program at the Skilled Trades Center starts with the basics, all the way back to how to read a ruler. Students learn about measuring, how to use various wrenches and rivets and how to drill holes. They leave with the knowledge and know-how to lay out, fabricate, assemble, modify, repair and install sheet metal products related to ventilation on a ship.

Instructor Everett Wilkerson with student Sharia Hoffler

The training has a classroom component that includes basic mathematics – adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions and how this relates to measurements. Students learn how to use approximately 26 hand tools, including drillers and grinders. They are hands-on the very first day.

No prior knowledge required, yet by the end of the two weeks, students can see their results and refine their processes. Their finished product is its own work of a different kind of art.

“It’s very detailed work,” said instructor Everett Wilkerson. “You have to be good at measuring and particularly good at measuring angles.”

Student voices

“I was looking for a job and someone told me about this program. It’s working out.” — Sharia Hoffler

“I like working with my hands. It’s fun to use the tools. I like putting stuff together no matter how difficult it is.” — Christian Jones, who added, “The stuff we make in here is cool; it’s never boring.”

Kenneth Fitzhugh grew up tinkering with tools alongside his dad. “This is something different than most jobs. It gives me a goal.”

The sounds of the Skilled Trades Academy

About the instructor

Wilkerson is retired from Newport News Shipbuilding after working there 45 years as an outside machinist. Approachable with his students, he enjoys teaching students the proper techniques for using tools. “Once they’re finished, you can see they get a feeling of accomplishment,” he said.

“As they say, from here, you can pretty much go anywhere,”

Good to know

Some of the students in this program are part of Newport News Shipbuilding’s pre-hire program. That means they pay $250 and receive reimbursement upon successful completion of the class. After one-day of safety training, they have the green light to get hired and make upward of $19 per hour.

The female students in this cohort are part of the Women in Skilled Careers (WISC) cohort, a 12-week program that exposes women to six trades: marine coating, marine electrical, outside machinist, pipefitting, sheet metal fabrication and welding. After completion, graduates can earn industry-recognized credentials that make them eligible for immediate hire.

More information

Interested in learning a trade that leads to employment? Contact TCC’s Stan Ashemore at sashemore@tcc.edu. The Skilled Trades Academy is located at 3303 Airline Blvd., in Portsmouth.

Inside the Skilled Trades Academy: Sheet Metal

Tidewater Community College’s Skilled Trades Academy offers hands-on, short-term instruction for in-demand trade jobs. This is the first part in a series.

Kyle Cooke is ready to build a future. Navy wife Marcy Camacho wants to prepare for a leadership position. Devin Wilson needed a new career after more than a decade as a trucker.

All of them found opportunity at TCC’s Skilled Trades Academy where they are part of a two-week training program in sheet metal that will lead to full-time employment at Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS). As part of the pre-hire program at NNS, they pay $250, which they are then reimbursed for upon successful completion of the class. They receive safety training and are then hired, making upward of $19 per hour.

Sheet metal specialists are responsible for the majority of the interior finish work on Navy vessels. Instructor Frank Yandle says seeing your finished work is among the joys of the job.

“There’s a pride component,” he said. “These students come right in and are able to contribute.”

Navy wife Marcy Camacho is preparing for a new career.

The training has a classroom component that includes basic mathematics – adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions – and teaching measures. Students learn how to use approximately 26 hand tools, including drillers and grinder and are hands-on the very first day.

Cooke, 24, enjoys working with his hands and grew tired of low-paying jobs that didn’t offer advancement. “I needed something that was going to give back to me in the long run,” he said.

Camacho returned to the area after her husband’s deployment ended. Her background was as a caregiver, but she’s embracing a different kind of challenge.

“I was a little intimidated at first, but once I got into learning the power tools, it was great,” she said.

Wilson drove a truck for 14 years but now wants a more stationary role. With a toddler, insurance benefits are increasingly important. “I need a career where I can grow,” he said.

A background in sheet metal or any other trade isn’t required. Yandle, retired after nearly 40 years working at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, works one-on-one with students when needed. “You’re not just learning a job,” he said. “You’re learning to be a craftsman.”

Working together

Employment of sheet metal workers is projected to grow 8 percent from 2018 to 2028, faster than the average for all occupations, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Interested in learning a trade that leads to employment? Contact TCC’s Stan Ashemore at sashemore@tcc.edu. The Skilled Trades Academy is located at 3303 Airline Blvd., in Portsmouth.

TCC’s Skilled Trades Academy to host open house on Saturday, April 27

Imagine training for a new career and being hired in just six weeks.

Tour Tidewater Community College’s Skilled Trades Academy on Saturday, April 27, for a firsthand look at available programs and specialized opportunities for in-demand construction and maritime trades that can lead to immediate employment.

TCC’s new Skilled Trades Academy at 3303 Airline Blvd., will host its inaugural open house and career fair from 9 a.m. to noon.

Meet our highly trained and qualified faculty, learn more about program and career options and talk with potential employers throughout that morning. Hampton Roads industry professionals will also have the opportunity to network with other business owners and apply for jobs.

The Skilled Trades Academy opened last December, coinciding with a critical workforce shortage in Hampton Roads, which anticipates 68 percent more job openings in skilled trades over the next five years than workers trained to fill them. Nationwide, 31 million skilled trade jobs will be vacated by baby boomers by 2020.

TCC offers a wide range of high-demand skilled trades training in marine coating, pipefitting, pipe laying, welding, framing, electrical, HVAC, roofing and sheet metal.

In some cases, participants can launch a new career with just six weeks of training.

“We can take people with zero background in skilled trades, put them through a three-week, pre-apprenticeship program and have them employed at a major shipyard making $18 an hour directly after,” President Gregory T. DeCinque said.

Thanks to funding through the FastForward Grant, many of the programs are available at little or no tuition cost. FastForward grants offset tuition costs so eligible students can earn an industry credential at one-third of the cost of tuition. In many cases, the student pays nothing.

“Many programs in these high-demand fields like welding, machine tool and HVAC are eligible for FastForward grant funding,” said Corey McCray, vice president for Workforce Solutions and interim executive vice president for Academic and Student Affairs. “That covers the vast majority of your tuition costs, so students would only have to pay about a third of the cost of their education.”

Reservations are recommended, but not required. RSVP at the Skilled Trades Academy open house page.

For more information, email workforce@tcc.edu or call 757-822-1234. For information on FastForward funding, contact career coach Alejandra Diaz-Rangel at adiazrangel@tcc.edu.