Originally published in the Outlook Edition of the Duluth News Tribune on 3/23/08. Written by Janet Blixt.
An innovative job shadowing program is helping students in Lake Superior College’s electronic industrial controls program understand how their technical education translates into well-paying and challenging jobs. As part of LSC’s curriculum, industrial control students now spend entire days with industrial control professionals at the Sappi paper mill in Cloquet, the NewPage paper mill (formerly known as Stora Enso) in Duluth, the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (WLSSD), Minnesota Power, Mielke Electric, and the USG fiberboard plant in Cloquet. Each student visits every industrial site for a day through a fall and spring semester-long rotating schedule.
The industrial job shadowing program first developed several years ago when NewPage approached LSC with the idea. “Our industrial controls and internship advisory committees and our workforce development department both recognized the need to cultivate workers for area industry. They expanded this onsite job shadowing program for our electronic industrial controls students,”? said electronics instructor and faculty member Mike O’Mara. “Students are able to spend time with professionals. They get a sense of what a specific job would entail at a pulp and paper mill, a wastewater treatment plant, a power plant, or with a company that installs and services industrial controls.”?
Industry anticipates a sixty percent turnover in these jobs in the next ten years due to retirements. The companies in these areas offer competitive wages and benefits.
“The job market for industrial controls is full of opportunity,”? said Steve Wagner, LSC’s vice president of workforce and community development. “The demand for educated and skilled electronic workers is healthy here in the Northland.”?
Brooks Thompson is an electronics industrial controls student at LSC and also a full-time maintenance employee in the Georgia Pacific Superwood plant in Duluth. He is enrolled in LSC’s program with financial support from his employer to upgrade his electrician skills.
Thompson was onsite at the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (WLSSD) plant in Lincoln Park, Duluth last October where he spent the day job shadowing master electrician Larry Wolter. WLSSD provides solid waste management and wastewater services for an approximately 500 square-mile region that includes the cities of Duluth, Cloquet, Hermantown, Proctor, Carlton, Scanlon, Thomson and Wrenshall, and the surrounding townships. For WLSSD, the job shadow program is beneficial because it allows students to see their operations and provides an opportunity for WLSSD staff to interact with potential future employees “ employees who could likely fill future openings. Because wastewater treatment processes have become highly automated, electricians need expanded skills and experience with computerized operations.
“The trend toward increased automation will continue,”? said WLSSD assistant director Marianne Bohren. “This trend not only elevates the level of skills needed to keep our systems running, but it also increases the demand for trained technicians throughout the region. We have a very skilled team in place, but most will be retiring in the near future. Our operation depends on our ability to find qualified replacements.”?
Wolter’s job as master electrician for WLSSD involves designing and maintaining operating systems and approving some of the work completed by other electricians and instrument technicians. For the job shadow day, Thompson spent eight hours with Wolter at the wastewater treatment plant. “I watched him install conduit for one of the main compressors in the system,”? said Thompson. “We talked quite a bit about why he was running things a certain way. I assisted him with minor tasks like getting tools and holding the flashlight.”? Thompson appreciates the job shadow program as a value-added part of his college course. “It’s a great idea to expose you to what you’re getting into by working with the guys in a real job setting.”?
Jacob Karas is another LSC electronic industrial controls student who has experienced several job shadow site visits, including the Sappi and NewPage paper mills. “It was an eye opener for me at the mills. I was surprised at how intense it can be at times with a paper roll coming through and then other times, pretty laid back, depending on what’s going on out on the floor.”?
Photo caption: Brooks Thompson and Jacob Karas are among the LSC students participating in a new job shadowing program.
