"Workit! La." draws crowd at Fletcher

Local industry is in great need of skilled workers.

South Central Industrial Association is helping to fill the need through the Workit! Louisiana event held last Wednesday at Fletcher Technical Community College in Houma, co-sponsored by the college.

Area industries set up booths manned by employees giving out information to high school students interested in training in technical fields and others seeking career opportunities.

“There’s tremendous opportunity in our area,” said Fletcher Chancellor Travis Lavigne.

“We have very low unemployment,” he said. “For college to work with industry is to fulfill our mission, to make sure the community is aware of our opportunities. There’s an opportunity for a lifetime of work here.”

British Petroleum, Motiva Enterprises, Edison Chouest Offshore, Weatherford Gemoco, Terrebonne General Medical Center and Acadian Ambulance were among the heavyweights at the Workit! event providing information about training and job opportunities.

Don Hingle, South Central Industrial Association president, said technical education may be the best choice for many young people.

“There’s a shortage of workers,” Hingle said. “Fifty percent of freshman at Nicholls State don’t go any further.”

“Basically, (the idea of Workit!) is to home-grow workers for industry,” he said. “We start as early as the sixth grade to educate them. There’s a well-paying job out there for them.”

Fletcher set up a booth touting its new Petroleum Technology program at the college’s Louisiana Marine and Petroleum Institute.

The program provides training covering the entire petroleum industry, both in upstream services (oil exploration) and offshore production, said George Foret, Petroleum Services division chair.

“We’re in the heart of petroleum country,” said William Wolf, an instructor at the institute.

Pat Seely, Weatherford Gemoco general manager, called the turnout of interested young people “awesome.”

“We’ve learned a lot from other career days,” he said. “Parents are a key part. They’re a big influence. Teachers also. These are lucrative careers.”

In particular, Gemoco, which makes much of its own equipment, is looking for welders and machinists for the large machine shop the company maintains.

Eric LeBouef, a student at Terrebonne High School who attended the Workit! event, said, “The people are very nice, making me aware about a lot of things. A lot of companies do drafting and engineering that I wasn’t aware of. That’s what I’m interested in.”