CHEYENNE (WNE) — On Wednesday, Bechtel announced a combined $1 million investment in Laramie County Community College and Western Wyoming College to support students pursuing a career in skilled trades.
The engineering company also launched Build For More, a statewide campaign aimed at encouraging students to consider a career in the trades as a primary career path.
At both WWC in Rock Springs and LCCC in Cheyenne, the funding will be used for curriculum, tools, instructors, equipment, training facilities and new training pathways, such as a new pipefitting program and expanded electrical training. The hope is that the new programs allow participants to complete their training in Wyoming.
At WWC specifically, there will be a mobile pipefitting training unit, which will provide hands-on experience to its students and other rural Wyoming communities.
In addition to reaching students, Build For More hopes to engage parents and teachers who are crucial in guiding students’ decisions. Bechtel officials said they hope the investment, paired with the new program, will help people in Wyoming recognize the potential of a career in skilled trades, in addition to building careers close to where they call home.
Walker Kimball, the senior vice president and head of construction at Bechtel, spoke during a forum Wednesday at LCCC about expanding skilled trade opportunities in Wyoming and emphasized increasing accessibility to young people. He announced the investment alongside Gov. Mark Gordon and LCCC President Joe Schaffer.
“We just want more people to understand what we do because we think it’s cool and we know how important it is,” he said.
Gordon stressed how more people in these fields will lead to a better future for Wyoming as a whole.
“We move forward by having people that have skills, understand how to use those skills, and see a changing environment where work is necessary, and evolve into it,” he said.