Rick Patrick
rick@greenepublishing.com
The Madison Rotary Club recently heard a presentation from one of their own, Rick Davis. Davis is the Associate Dean of Economic Development and Workforce Education at North Florida College (NFC), in Madison. Davis spoke about the numerous opportunities available to students at NFC.
While NFC continues to offer traditional college classes that prepare students to transfer to other major universities, NFC also offers classes and training that are directly tied to the needs of the workforce. Some of these class offerings lead to professional certification in a number of areas, ranging from health care to truck driving.
One program that stands as somewhat unique to NFC is the commercial driver's license (CDL) program designed to provide training and practical experience in the area of truck driving. NFC is one of the few schools that offer specific training in driving log trucks. This developed from a partnership with area logging operations who were faced with a shortage of trained log truck drivers. This shortage continues to exist to this day and those who complete the program at NFC are almost guaranteed a well-paying job once they complete training. Most of the students in the program can complete the program with little or no out-of-pocket cost, thanks to grants from Career Source of Florida that will fund up to 80 percent of the program cost. The other 20 percent can be paid from scholarships and grants from NFC. According to Jerry Gray, with Gray Logging, LLC, of Madison, a beginning log truck driver could make up to $45,000 per year.
Davis said there are more new programs in the works at NFC, such as financial services, electric lineman, construction technicians, diesel technicians and more.
More information about NFC and the Career Education programs they offer can be found at www.nfc.edu.
The Madison Rotary Club meets every Wednesday at 12 p.m., in the Vila de Maria Social Hall of the St. Vincent dePaul Catholic Church, on Orange Ave., across from Beggs Funeral Home, in Madison.