WILMINGTON, Del. – U.S. Senator Chris Coons and managers from Bloom Energy toured Delcastle Technical High School’s welding and culinary shops Thursday and learned first-hand how vocational schools are training young Delawareans for the manufacturing jobs of the future.
Senator Coons and representatives of Bloom Energy’s engineering and management departments learned about the training techniques employed at Delcastle High School and how those specific skills translate to real world manufacturing job opportunities.
“If we want to continue to grow manufacturing in our country, we have to be educating our young people to take the jobs not just of the future, but of today,” said Senator Coons. “I have visited manufacturers up and down the state that say their single biggest constraint to growth is the need for skilled workers.”
“The goal of my visit today was to show students that there can be careers in manufacturing in their future if they work hard and get trained,” said Senator Coons. “We have one of the best vo-tech school systems in the whole country here in Delaware, and every day it demonstrates the value of investing in skills training in our communities.”
“This is exciting for our students because they are hearing over and over again that these skills will transfer out to the working world,” said Delcastle Principal Clifton Hayes. “To see companies come here and hear them say ‘we need your skills, we want you to work at our company’, it’s a great opportunity for our students to have that experience.”