The Alton Telegraph - Congressmen Visit SWIC

News Article

By Nathan Grimm

U.S. Congressman Bill Enyart (IL-12) and House of Representatives Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (MD-5) visited the Southwestern Illinois College campus in Granite City Wednesday to discuss the importance of the trade program there and throughout the country.

Enyart and Hoyer received a tour of the building from SWIC technical education dean Brad Sparks, stopping in on a computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) class and welding class, among others, to see the students in action. Enyart took courses at SWIC after high school and briefly worked as a welder on an assembly line with the United Auto Workers before enlisting in the military.

Enyart called manufacturing the "backbone of the American workforce."

"There's just such a crying need," Enyart said. "Every employer that I've met with has said, "I need welders. I need millwrights. I need skilled technical tradespeople.'"

Hoyer's Make It In America initiative targets middle class, skilled workers producing American-made products. He said the initiative is very much in line with the programs SWIC offers to students of all ages.

"Make It In America is about exactly what you're doing here, and that is training people how to make things," Hoyer said. "Make It In America is what America really is all about."

A round table discussion with teachers in area high school vocational programs was also held at the community college. SWIC president Georgia Costello, SWIC students and local business leaders also participated in the discussion.

One of the topics addressed was how to get students interested in vocational and trade programs from a young age. Teachers said a lack of interest to meet the demand of the market was one of the biggest problems they face, an issue Hoyer acknowledged.

"We need to let our young people know that, yes, four-year college is nice … but very frankly, if America is going to make it, it won't be because everybody's got a four-year college degree," Hoyer said. "It will be because a lot of people have skill sets.

"We need to convince parents and students what manufacturers are already convinced of -- that they will be able to provide good jobs if the people that are available in the workforce have the skills that they need."

Hoyer also expressed the need for women to be an integral part of manufacturing's future.

"When women succeed, America succeeds," Hoyer said. "Over 50 percent of our people are women, and we need to make sure that they are full participants."

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