Offers of employment for WWCC students

Wyo4news Staff, [email protected] [PRESS RELEASE]

ROCK SPRINGS, WYOMING — Ten Western Wyoming Community College (Western) students received contingent offers of employment from Genesis Alkali on Friday, April 29, 2022. The students for the 2022 graduates of Western’s Electrical & Instrumentation Technology program are Mickael Healey, Kreston Klein, Kevin Cervantes, and Cole Doroha. The students for the 2022 graduates of Western’s Plant Operations program are July Martinez, Hunter Byrd, Jordan Barnett, Jessica Lake, Kaden Strother, Michael Rodabaugh and Instructor of Plant Operations, Kendra Meeker. Genesis representatives visited Western to interview graduating students from Western’s Electrical & Instrumentation Technology (EIT) and Plant Operations programs.  

Genesis provided conditional offers of employment to four students from the EIT program and six from the Plant Operations program. The students’ offers are contingent on their graduation from Western along with passing a written test and a hands-on. practical.  

With the launch of the Plant Operations program in 2019, Western continues to appreciate Genesis Alkali’s dedication to our students and community. Since the program’s inception, Genesis has provided all program graduates with the opportunity to interview for open positions. Michael Rodabaugh, a Plant Operations major, explained his initial interest in the program, “I thought if I can get into the plant ops program there’s a lot of promise with it.”   

EIT graduates often find employment as automation technicians, industrial plant/mine electricians (C-class), calibrations specialists, and more. In the state of Wyoming alone, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ projected rate of growth for EIT jobs at an estimated 20 new jobs annually. Kreston Klein, one of Western’s EIT graduates stated, “I’m most excited for being able to use my degree, that I’ve been working very hard on, and put it into my career.”

 

While many aspects of both programs appealed to students, the common factor was the hands-on nature of the programs. When speaking of their time in the program, Kevin Cervantes, an EIT major stated, “My favorite classroom experience was being hands-on in every single class, not just a single class, but in every class.” For Klein one of the most significant impacts from the program was instructor support. In speaking of Associate Professor of Compression, Joe Uriarte, Klein said, “He made my time here very fun and I always felt comfortable being able to ask him a question when I needed to.”  

In their potential new positions, these graduates will be able to apply the knowledge they’ve gained at Western on a daily basis. Those from the Plant Operations program traditionally operate the equipment that is used to manufacture products, ensuring that countless systems work together. EIT graduates will likely be responsible for the programs and systems that take the product from start to finish.  

For more information on the EIT program or courses, visit: westernwyoming.edu/electrical. To learn more about Western’s Plant Operations program, visit westernwyoming.edu/plantoperations.

To speak to the School Chair, Carlton DeWick, for Manufacturing, Industry and Technology, email [email protected].