Washington State Community College introduces InCERT Yourself program for high school students

Washington State Community College has developed a certification program that will help high school students get a head start on their careers. The InCERT Yourself program is a 15-week program that gives high school junior and senior students the opportunity to attend classes on Washington State Community College’s campus to earn industry credentials in advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity, or industrial welding and maintenance. Sixty-one students from ten different schools in the area have taken part so far, and the program just launched.

According to an article on Washington State Community College’s website, college president Dr. Vicky Wood expressed her praise for the program, saying, “We want to help these students have hope for their careers and their futures. Through this program, they’ll graduate high school with one or more industry certifications that verify they have skills that make them immediately employable. InCERT Yourself will allow students to see a career pathway and believe they can achieve their goals. We will show them that they can be successful in higher education and earn a college degree if that becomes their goal.”

The three programs represented in InCERT Yourself, which are advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity, and industrial welding and maintenance, were chosen due to their relation to STEM, which Dan Leffingwell, who serves as the Dean of Business and Engineering and one of the organizers of InCERT Yourself, said was a deliberate push to help students align themselves with lucrative careers. Leffingwell was quoted as saying, “Those careers pay 68% higher wages. So, if you leave here with one, two, or more credentials, you’re ready for work. You’re ready for college. You’re going to be doing something that, right now, only 19% of people in this country are preparing themselves to do. Today, by being here, you’re making the decision to help create the best hope for your future because you’re going to be aligned with 90% of the future jobs that pay the highest wages.”

Leffingwell went on to describe one of the many benefits students will receive by taking part in the program: access to and networking with the local workforce. He said, “We are working with our region’s school districts and our industry partners in a new way and the end result means jobs for our students. This program will allow them to learn about a career pathway and believe they can achieve their goals. Better still, they’re networking while they’re learning, which will open doors for them when they enter the workforce.”

The benefits of the program are not just limited to the students. Local workforces will reap the rewards of having a talent pool and pipeline of credentialed or certified potential employees.

Magnum Magnetics and Manufacturing’s Chief Information Officer Greg Buckley commented on what he sees as being a boon to manufacturing companies in the area, saying, “The workforce is an upside-down pyramid with a lot of folks retiring, and trying to get more people in the pipeline is a problem across the country and in other countries, too. So, it’s important to get folks into the manufacturing world so we can keep making products in this country and then keeping that pipeline going.”

The eventual goal is to give the participating students college credit in addition to the industry credentials they will earn throughout their time in the InCERT Yourself program, though currently the program is in its pilot phase and that isn’t yet an option. If and when InCERT Yourself is able to provide that option, Leffingwell said, “In the end, they will have succeeded at both, college and job preparation.”

One participant in the pilot program of InCERT Yourself, Devan Carpenter, had not considered college up until hearing about InCERT Yourself, and is using the pilot program to earn credentials in Industrial Welding and Maintenance. Carpenter said, “I decided to do this because it’s something that I’m good at and if I can get certified, it opens a lot more jobs for me.” 

So far, the student interest in the program has exceeded Washington State Community College’s expectations.

For more information about Washington State Community College, visit the school’s website.