The ability to effectively protect and serve the public takes a special type of individual, someone with both empathy and acute critical thinking skills, someone with moral conviction and respect for the rule of law. Piedmont Technical College’s associate in applied science (AAS) degree with a major in criminal justice offers a solid foundation that graduates can take immediately into entry-level public service work or build on by transferring into more advanced studies at a four-year institution.
Piedmont Technical College (PTC) will hold two summer commencement exercises on Thursday, August 2. An afternoon ceremony for Agriculture, Arts & Sciences, Business, Computer Technology, Engineering/Industrial Technology, and Nursing graduates will take place at 3 p.m. An evening ceremony for Health Science graduates will be held at 7 p.m. Both commencements will take place in the James Medford Family Event Center on PTC’s Lex Walters Campus-Greenwood.
Even if you have a desk job in an Army infantry unit, you still have to run long distances and march for hours in combat boots carrying heavy gear. Willette Wright knows all too well what it takes. She served eight years as an administrative specialist in the Army. And her feet felt every mile of it. Today the disabled veteran works in a warehouse near her tiny home town of Ridge Spring. For the past three years, she also has been the enthusiastic, 50-something lady sitting alongside students half her age in classes at Piedmont Technical College’s Saluda County Campus.
It started quietly at first. A low buzz, numerous meetings, contract development and ― finally ― the arrival of the first three IRB 140 robots to the Piedmont Technical College (PTC) Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CAM) in Laurens. This spring marked the official launch of a partnership between PTC and ABB, a leading supplier of industrial robots that serves 53 countries around the world.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
