Barstow Community College will begin this month offering a series of free training programs for enrollees of all ages who want to pursue a new career or certification for a craft in the areas of customer service, forklift operations, or commercial technician work.
Each of the three tracks will have three classes for six weeks. Customer service and forklift sessions begin on September 13th. Anyone interested in one or both courses must register before this date. There is more time left to enroll in the commercial technician training, which begins Nov. 1, according to BCC spokeswoman Amanda Simpson.
The “no cost and internship” training series is designed to attract high school students, adult education, high-risk youth, the unemployed, veterans, the homeless and people looking for recycling opportunities, ”the website states. the University.
The sessions do not earn credit at the university, but each will culminate in a BCC “Vocational Technical Training” certificate to encourage participants ’resumes and hopefully build life-saving skills.
“The idea is to help people get back to work. We’ve all been in this remote experience for so long, ”Simpson said,“ and that kind of perfects those computer and essential skills that employers want you to have. ”
He said all sessions will be online as COVID-19 precautions continue to be a prominent factor in all university plans. People can sign up no matter where they live, he added, as participation is not limited to Barstow or High Desert residents.
The customer service training session will consist of three classes covering “essential skills,” sales, and digital literacy. Participants in forklift sessions and sales technicians will also take classes on sales and digital literacy.
Enrollees in the forklift session will take a unique course in which they will use BCC’s new “virtual reality simulator” to cover basic operations, inspections and safety standards. The goal is to prepare participants for the face-to-face course that the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration. requires becoming a certified forklift operator.
In the sales technician session, participants will take a unique course focused on learning OSHA federal safety standards, such as handling power tools, building and drawing basics, welding, plumbing, and electrical systems. and HVAC.
Those interested in registering for any of the sessions can start by sending an email to cte@barstow.edu and sending an interest form to the BCC website before the start date.
Charlie McGee covers the city of Barstow and its surrounding communities for the Daily Press. He is also a member of the Reporting Body for the United States with the GroundTruth project, an independent, non-partisan, nonprofit news organization dedicated to supporting the next generation of journalists in the United States and around the world. You can contact McGee at 760-955-5341 or cmcgee@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @bycharliemcgee.