TRI COUNTY TECH

Good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome, welcome, welcome. It's time now for our community connection right here on K one, the one you trust. We have our friends in from Tri County Tech today. We have Nikki Lagrant, digital specialists here and communication specialists. Also an instructional director. We have Janette Slater. How you doing, Jennette.

I'm doing very well. It's very nice outside.

It's a great day to be out and about, so I'm really glad to be down here.

It's always a great day Tri County Tech, now, isn't it, Nikki? It is? Yeah. Now, we've got some things that are cooking right now. First of all, we played a little golf. I don't want to spill the beans too much. Tell us a little bit about what happened here with the foundation, true.

Yeah, we just had our second ever Foundation golf tournament and it was an excellent turnout. We had seventeen teams participate in that.

Yeah, it was great.

We raised over thirty four thousand dollars so that money will go to our students tuition, emergency aid and food assistance.

It was great.

Our sponsors are awesome. We had Bokay Financial Truity, our best several others, and I won't steal too much of that. Champagne will come next month and talk about that and get Oh she will, yeah, she will, So I will let her give you all the good details.

But it was great.

Well, that's great. I'm looking forward to that being one of those mainstays that you know, you come back fifty years from now and it's still there. I think it's going to be that way now. Adult programs. Now, when we say adult programs, people kind of shake their head a little bit and they say, well, what are you going to teach an adult? Well, adults can learn a lot.

Yes, adults can learn a lot, and so we have programs that are designed for adults who want to upgrade their skills, and we have programs that are designed.

For adults who want to go into a new career field. So we have a lot of variety in our adult programs.

You know, people are living longer, and it used to be a twenty year career and now that's no longer aad Sometimes people feel that after fifteen twenty years it's something or maybe even you know ten, it's time to be replotted like a plant and get a fresh start and feel invigorated again, and this is a great place to start. Craig County Tech.

It is, And at Tri County Tech, we have designed some of our adult programs to be short term.

So it used to be that you might come for ten months.

Now you can come for three months and upgrade your skills or get some new skills.

That's a timeline a guy like me can appreciate because you know the time. But it's wonderful. What can we learn.

Well, you can learn anything from phlebotomy if you want to maybe end up in a lab doing sticks in the medical field. You could learn electrical HVAC carpentry. You could learn how to be a medical assistant in a medical office. So we have a wide variety.

Right now, I'm thinking of those things that you just brought up. Everything but the phlebotomy. That's basically your mom and dad. They know all these things. But this is where it can really amount to a great career. By insisting and helping folks who really don't have.

That kind of a background, it can lead to a really great career.

Oh.

Indeed, we have a variety of computer classes. We have a Computer Skills for Work class that will help you get into the job market. We have some specialty classes if you want to be a technician in the computer field, so we have a good amount of classes.

I remember my kids asking me when was the first time I touched a computer. I was well into my thirties, and it was kind of a novel thing. Only the business people had that, and that was the people who touched the real minding in the office, and nobody else really had any kind of desire or want to touch something so ominous. And now it's every day you've got one in your hand. It's called your cell phone, but it's basically a computer, and it is so with us

It is a very good spot for folks who would like to get into a new career or just want to upgrade their skills.

Oh yeah, everybody can upgrade their skills. Yeah, I mean everybody. Maybe not YouTube, but I certainly could.

Oh we can.

We can now digital communications. You learned a few things and get debtailing onto the computer and what have you. This some would say this is one of those brand new skill sets that darn few people know about. Well, more and more people are learning, aren't they.

Yes, it's important. I mean I'm trying to get my grandma in there right now. She calls me once a week and says, my phone won't ring, and you know.

How do I look this up?

So it's just it's simple, it's quick, and it's learning a new skill.

So it is. I've been playing with this thing called AI. Are you teaching anything about that?

We have been doing some professional development with our staff about AI because we would like to help our teachers use it and we'd like to help our staff use it, and we're also helping our students learn how to use it effectively.

There's a lot of.

Fun, it's a lot of fun, a lot of there's a lot of misues that can happen on that. So if you want to know how to do it right, sign up for her classes at Tray County Tech.

Please you know, we hope to see some classes on AI in the future.

In the future. Yes, indeed. Now when it comes to signing out, I found this to be pretty easy. I've got a young daughter who attends Trike County Tech and she was overwhelmed. She says, Dad, Oh, gosh, I can't do this. I can't. Yeah, you can. And she said, oh, I said, I talked to these people about you know, one Thursday a month for the last five years, and they tell me it's really really easy. Let's go to the website, let's pose a few questions, let's see how

That's good to hear.

We have a really good marketing team, Nikki and our website developer, and they are always looking at our website to make it user friendly.

You're it. You're the one who made it so easy to navigate it.

She's part of it, part of it, okay, she's part of it, all right?

Well, very good because you know, even a guy like me, I sometimes I have navigational issues on a computer, depending on what website I'm on. But yours is really easy for your eyes to travel and take a little adventure and really learned a lot without having to be mired down in so much.

Well, I think it scares people too, you know, having sometimes to jump on the computer and apply. But it is really so easy and just give us a phone call and we can walk you through the whole process that way too.

So how fun is it to teach out there at Trey County Tech.

Oh, it is a lot of fun.

It's really a lot of fun to design programs, to find out what people need in the industry, to hire someone that's excited about that industry, and then put them in a classroom.

So it's really a lot of fun to make those connections. And then I think.

Probably a lot of our instructors would say the best part of that is when they see success in their students, and when they see their students get jobs and change their lives.

Oh, my goodness, that's the best part.

That's one of those internal feel goods you just can't replace. His Yeah, goodness, this is a place for you to take a look. And we've been talking about the website, but I haven't given the address on the web. When is it?

So try County Tech dot edu.

Try County Tech dot that easy. See, folks have made it easy for eating following. And on there you have the menu that's typed out in pretty good sized print, so it'll take you wherever you want to go through about like six or seven selections right up there at the top and put them there. Great click go.

There's a high school section, there's an adult program section, and if you land on either any.

Of those pages, you'll see all of the programs for those students.

And it's all right there.

It's all right there.

Boy. It's changed a whole lot since I was in college back in the nineteen hundred and seventy somethings, where you had to go someplace and get a book and didn't get lost in the book, you know. So you just point click and you're there, and we can find out also about different ways to make sure that you can afford your college education at Tray County Tech or your training.

Yes, one of the things we talked about earlier was that golf tournament and that's that benefits our foundation, and our foundation is.

Used to provide tuition assistance for our students.

So if you come to Try County Tech, we can help you pay for your classes, so.

In theory and in actuality. Because I've talked to some people who've actually done this, lots of them. You leave Tri County Tech without any debt.

Yes, oh yeah, of our students qualify for assistance I have. Yeah, it's all in house, so you don't have to apply for all of the state funding.

And so it's simple. Yeah, it's right there for you.

Well, stop shop. How do you pull it off? I mean, how does it? I'm glad it works. I don't need to know how. I just need to know it's there as a parent, and also for adults who are thinking about this and thinking, oh my guys, it's going to be a drag on the not so much. I got to be so much of a dragon.

No, it's not at all.

It's an investment, is what it is.

Yes, it is.

Now. Your foundation helps in so many different ways. If you're really entire straits, I understand it can help students, even with food Buddy on occasion.

The foundation does help with food They have an emergency assistance program.

Yes, and they do a lot for our students.

We have a like a closet with food and just hygiene essentials and things like that too, so our students know that that's open for.

Them as well.

So nobody asks any questions.

Nobody asked me.

That's cool. Yeah, that is cool. And you guys win these awards, these national and international awards, you mean, kind of like knocking them down. That's got to be a great feeling to walk into work saying, you know, I'm going into a world class facility here. Yeah, and they're paying me.

It's rewarding. It is very rewarding.

And a lot of people when they go to work there tray and they stay there. There's not a big turnover.

No, definitely not. So I've been there thirteen years and Janette's been there about about twelve.

Yeah, in this stage and you're the rookies, right yeah, yeah, honestly. Yeah, but this is really amazing. Again now with the adult programs, we find out more online. But can can we use the old fashioned method of setting up an appointment with the telephone and talking to someone then maybe taking a look sie.

Yes you can, if you can use that.

You can use any method you want, because if you want to come in call we can set you up with the appointment with one.

Of our advisors. They can give you a tour, they can take you to the program. So you can call us, or you can just stop.

Buy nice. I like the way you guys just kind of wrap that up and put a bow on it. It's incredible. That's incredible. That's Trike County Tech.

Several of our adult programs are starting this month and there's some next month too, So.

Oh wow, we can start. We can start this month. Yeah wow, I thought it was all you know, August, September and stuff like that. Oh yea, that's right. Because you have the smaller courses.

We're starting new courses almost every month, even all summer.

So when you say what's new at Trick County Tech and say, well, let me get to start it here, because there's always something new, so you don't have to really wait six months at a time or four months at a time to get anything lined up and going. You're you're probably off to the races within days after you've signed up. Yes, nice, all right, And again the website.

Tri County Tech dot edu.

All right, I got it now, it's right here in the noggin. Thanks for being with us today, Yes, thank you, thank you.