New BC3 classes prepare students for energy industry jobs
Butler County Community College is adding four energy classes to its curriculum this fall, part of a strategy to prepare students for employment in the booming natural gas industry.
The classes will lead to a certificate and eventually to a degree program, school officials say.
“This is the largest opportunity to hit Western Pennsylvania in over 100 years,” Bill Lucas, a consultant to the school for its energy program and a retired president of Equitable Gas Co., said of the region's natural gas drilling boom.
The school's new classes include Introduction to Petroleum and Natural Gas; Technical Math; Process and Control Instrumentation, and Industrial Mechanics.
“It is like an introduction to industrial maintenance,” instructor Steve Laslavich said of his industrial mechanics class.
Laslavich, who teaches at other community colleges, had a long career as a maintenance man for the former J&L Steel Co.
“There is a lot of opportunity. The gas industry is booming. Anyone with training can get a job,” he said.
In the semester starting in January, the school will offer English — focusing on workplace communications — along with classes in personal wellness, natural gas processing and industrial safety, said Karen Zapp, BC3's project manager for a $500,000, three-year grant from the Department of Labor to develop the energy curriculum.
“These classes prepare an individual for entry-level jobs in the natural gas industry. A certificate will make somebody employable,” Zapp said.
Nearly three years ago, the school started offering classes for roustabouts, a jack-of-all-trades in the oil fields.
About 200 graduates of that program have gotten work in the Marcellus shale drilling industry, Zapp said.
Garrett Long, 19 of Porterville, Calif., said his uncle persuaded him to take the classes.
“He works for XTO and told me about the roustabout program. There was no program like that in California,” he said.
Leonard Hilton, 50, of Beaver Falls has been running his own office cleaning company, but is looking for a change.
“The economy went boom, and cleaning went down. I am looking for stability,” he said.
The school has received $200,000 in grants from XTO, a natural gas drilling company that is a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, Zapp said.
The Butler school is one of several in the region that have added classes related to the natural gas industry to curriculum.
Westmoreland has an energy degree program, and the community colleges of Allegheny and Beaver counties have received federal grants to offer classes and training related to the energy industry.
Last year, the federal government announced $474.5 million in grants to community colleges and universities for the development and expansion of training programs in partnership with local employers.
Rick Wills is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7944 or rwills@tribweb.com.
