On Wednesday, the President
visited Northern Virginia Community College and emphasized the need to match community college curricula with the skill sets manufacturing companies seek to hire.
David Korelitz is currently benefiting from one of the programs President Obama
spoke about, the General Motors Automotive Service Educational Program (GMASEP). The President shared David story:
"All across America, there are students like the ones that I’ve met here at NOVA, folks who are gaining skills, they’re learning a trade, they’re working hard and putting in the hours to move up the profession that they’ve chosen or to take a chance on a new line of work. Among the students I was meeting here, we saw some looked like 18-, 19-year-olds, but we also saw a couple of folks who were mid-career or even had retired and now were looking to go back to work.
So these are men and women like David Korelitz. David started at a car dealership as a apprentice. And he’ll tell you, he was at the low end of the totem pole. Then he entered GM -- the GM automotive program here at NOVA; started picking up new skills; led to better and more challenging work. He began to prove himself as a technician. And after he graduated he kept moving up. So now, David is hoping to work hard enough to earn a management position at the dealership where he was an apprentice just a few years ago.
And I want to quote David, because I think it captures what happens here at a place like NOVA. David said whatever he ends up doing, the automotive training program here was “the spark [he] needed to get [his] career started.” The spark he needed to get his career started."
Equipped with the specific knowledge of GM automotive technology from the program, David quickly rose from his apprenticeship to become a technician, and now works as a service advisor aiding customers. Listen to David talk about his experience:
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Soon, 500,000 community college students like David will have similar stories to tell. Through the Skills for America's Future initiative, partnerships formed between the private sector and community colleges will directly streamline students into manufacturing job opportunities and help ensure they have the skills and training to be competitive.
