Workforce Training Courses Boom in San Angelo

Classes offered by Howard College and SAISD at the West Texas Training Center (WTTC) are full to capacity.

The local energy industry is booming, therefore the energy workforce is booming. In to deal with increasing demand, training courses are picking up speed in popularity.

Currently, the courses covering welding and truck driving are booked as far as three months in advance by both individuals wanting to be certified, and local companies sending new employees to the WTTC for training.

Aside from providing training to older individuals, Howard College partners with SAISD for duel credit and workforce training.

During the day, college students at Howard and SAISD duel credit students populate the campus, and at night the adults needing the training fill the labs.

“Really, it’s a perfect situation for us,” said Jaime Rainey, Division Director of Workforce Training at Howard Collage, “the majority of our adults want to come at night.”

The demand reaches as far down as the high school students, Brennan Rollwitz in the auto body department mentions the demand for his students.

‘We got a lot of kids going to shops,” he explained, “shops all over town are calling us.”

SAISD and Howard partner to buy equipment and supplies for their joint usage, shouldering the burden of expense on two entities.

“We couldn’t do it without SAISD,” Rainey explained.

At this point, the limitation is not availability of students, as in the past, but that there is not enough building space to accommodate more classes and students.

Construction is underway to build two more buildings in the short term, with plans to continue adding on in the future.

Howard College also assists businesses with help identifying funding resources for training needs, writing grants, and administers grants when received. 

Any businesses wanting to train employees, or individuals wanting a career change, can contact Jamie Rainey at [email protected] or 325-481-8300 ext. 3228.