Capital Region Congressman Paul Tonko, a Democrat from New York’s 20th district, is pushing for federal dollars for SUNY Schenectady’s mobile classrooms.
Speaking at SUNY Schenectady as the college unveiled two new mobile classrooms – one geared toward manufacturing and the other healthcare — Congressman Tonko said the half million dollars in federal funding to build a new garage would protect the school’s investment.
“In order to make those advances that are necessary for the skill sets that apply to today's world of manufacturing, or to the growing, evolving bit of healthcare, as we see more and more innovation coming our way with healthcare delivery, it requires that state of the art training and education. And so I'm happy to be here this morning to have responded to the request from the campus. And we're still in the middle of securing those dollars. But obviously the fraternal twins need a home,” Tonko said.
The mobile classrooms – 44-foot-long trailers outfitted with equipment and classroom space for 12 students and an instructor – will be brought to businesses and municipalities across the Capital Region to boost access to education.
That’s especially important given the region’s human geography, according to Sarah Wilson-Sparrow, the college’s Vice President of Workforce Development and Community Education.
“Within 10 miles in any direction, you are in an area of farm country- fields, no bus lines, you've got some companies out there, different industry partners that are out there clamoring for people,” Wilson-Sparrow said.
The mobile classrooms were supported by a $1 million federal grant. Wilson-Sparrow says manufacturing companies often lack on-site space for training.
“If someone has to go to training, the distance, the time, the expense, and the loss of productivity is a problem. So, thinking about driving right up to a location, being able to provide a really great training, customized to that industry partner, and then think about young kids, young boys and girls who are maybe not sure what they want to do. We want this to be able to kind of tap into that excitement about, wow, I can do this really cool stuff with my hands, I can figure out what's going on in the healthcare industry, if it's for me,” Wilson-Sparrow said.
Wilson-Sparrow adds training is a way to reach people who might not want to go to college:
“If you think about that teenage boy or girl who's very mechanical, but they don't really feel that they're traditionally smart, and that can be really damaging. So picture that teenager coming on a unit like this and touching these things and seeing what they do and realizing, wow, I have the skill set and the acumen to do this really cool job and it pays really well,” Wilson-Sparrow said.
Both classrooms also offer workforce behavior training.
“How do you behave in the workplace? What makes you successful? How do you deal with irate customers? How do you deal with emailing and texting? Don't do that all in capital letters, because that means you're yelling at someone, right? Just sort of basic things like that, that really help people all the way around be a more well-rounded, ready person to enter the workforce and move up quickly,” Wilson-Sparrow said.
Veronica Pagan is a Program Coordinator and an instructor for the Clinical Care and Rotation Course in SCCC’s Certified Clinical Medical Assistant program. She says the healthcare-oriented mobile classroom will make a real difference.
“We need medical assistants that actually care for the patients, teaching them how to properly care for the patients to show them how to show empathy instead of sympathy. And just well care. Because what happens is, if they don't get proper care, they're not gonna be as helpful,” Pagan said.
The training includes everything from practice to paperwork.
Tiziana Rota is Director Emerita of the Health Profession Opportunity Grant in the college’s Office of Workforce Development and Community Education. Her efforts were instrumental in the development of the mobile classrooms, according to the college. She says in designing them, she thought about what she would want to see in the space.
“For example, the fact that the tables that we have are flip-down, that way, you would have more space to move on the fact that we have an internal TV that can swing around and be able to be seen by the group, there is an outdoor TV so for that recruitment purposes, we can gather people,” Rota said.
Brian Abernathy of MotionAI is working with the college’s collaborative robot, which is in the advanced manufacturing classroom.
“A collaborative robot, unlike a standard robot, is designed to work with people and around people. So there's no guarding around it. If it bumps into you or something else, it’ll stop,” Abernathy said.
The robotic arm has different end attachments for various purposes.
Also included in the manufacturing classroom are demonstration versions of electrical switches, to teach students how to wire and disconnect them.
College President Steady Moono says the classrooms are proving to be popular.
“We have a waiting list right now of folks who are saying, ‘Can you bring it to us? Can you come into this community? Can you come into this business?’ and we're trying to figure out how to make sure that we are catering to those needs,” Moono said.
Moono says ultimately, industry will determine the program’s success.
“Are we meeting industry needs, when we meet with industry leaders two or three times a year? Are they going to be expressing to us that their needs their workforce needs are being met? I think that is really the barometer,” Moono said.
