Stories

Under nearly flawless blue skies, SC Technical College System President Dr. Tim Hardee cruised across the finish line at Piedmont Technical College’s Newberry Campus on Oct. 1. Followed by his wife and riding companion, Tammy, Hardee completed the fifth section of a 16-leg, 800-mile journey to raise money for student scholarships as part of the System’s Tour de Tech initiative.

Self Regional Healthcare in Greenwood has provided an infusion of capital to the Nursing Department at Piedmont Technical College (PTC) to further strengthen the region’s nursing workforce. At a ceremony on September 27, Ken Coffey, executive director of the Self Regional Healthcare Foundation, presented a check for $170,000 to PTC President Dr. Ray Brooks and Health Care Dean Tara Harris. The funds will be used to help support the nursing curriculum at PTC and to address the immediate need for additional faculty to serve students majoring in the college’s nursing programs.

The options available to health science and nursing students at PTC are vast. While that’s a good thing, many students enroll with only a generalized notion of what they want to pursue, which may be something health-related, but they aren’t sure exactly where along the spectrum to focus. That’s why customized advising on health science and nursing careers is so critical to properly grounding the initial steps in their journey.

After just his first semester studying at Piedmont Technical College (PTC) in Greenwood, Austin Morris began working as an apprentice at Burnstein von Seelen Precision Castings in Abbeville while continuing to work toward his machine tool technology degree at PTC. It was a bit of a risk in the beginning, but Chris Ramey, Morris’s supervisor at Burnstein von Seelen, is pleased with the outcome. Last month, Morris received his long-anticipated Apprentice Toolmaker certificate from the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Apprenticeship. The program has boosted his confidence, and Morris couldn’t be prouder to hold the certificate.

Have you ever gestured toward a commercial truck driver to pull on his air horn? It’s great fun, and Piedmont Technical College (PTC) is having a little fun “blowing the horn” in announcing an inspired partnership that is rooted in the challenge of improving the state’s network of roads and highways. The SC Workforce Development Board has named PTC the lead agency and training provider for a $355,363 grant project, titled “Ready to Roll,” designed to increase the state’s workforce for highway construction and related sectors.

Eaton Corporation in Greenwood recently presented the Piedmont Technical College (PTC) Foundation with a check for $45,000 to continue its steadfast support for engineering technology programs at the college. Eaton has donated to the program every year since 2004.

At Piedmont Technical College’s recent summer commencement exercises, outstanding students from each of the college’s seven supporting counties were honored for academic achievement.

They came from diverse origins in geography, age, race and gender. Yet all four commencement speakers at the Piedmont Technical College summer graduation ceremonies on August 2 in Greenwood shared common, overarching messages of gratitude and faith. “I didn’t come from a family with a lot of money or education, so I have been working since I was 15 years old,” said graduation speaker Joan Pittman, who earned an associate degree in administrative office technology. At age 60.

As he paddled a turbulent section of the Chattooga River between South Carolina and Georgia, Orlando Carrillo couldn’t help but take an engineer’s interest in the various rock formations and the patterns of rushing water circumnavigating them. “I remember thinking about the water and the danger of the hydraulics,” Carrillo said. “You try to understand how the water assumes a circular motion. I think that is very interesting from an engineering perspective.”