Hochul, Raimondo Join Micron Leaders, Educators To Highlight Industry Education

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo joined Gov. Kathy Hochul, Micron officials, and local educators to highlight and discuss the CHIPS Workforce Training Pilot Program.

The CHIPS training program is looking to expand hands-on learning opportunities for educators and students in K-12 schools to help prepare them for the growing microchip workforce. Raimondo said New York's program is the start of more national investments into CHIPS education and workforce development.

"We're about to invest a first investment ever out of CHIPS workforce, we decided to do here," Raimondo said. "We have another $250 million that we are going to invest in workforce programs all around the country so every American can have the chance to get the skills they need to get a good job."

Hochul said what's happening in New York can serve as a model as programs expand to other states. She says the hands-on approach students in central New York are getting can be applied across the state and to other industries.

"The Secretary of Commerce and I have been working so closely together from the very beginning to make sure that we bring home this project for this community in so many ways, and one of the most impactful is to make sure that students get the training they need while they are still in high school," Hochul said. "This has not been done before. This is novel, it's innovative. And we're going to make sure that we are not only going to replicate it here, but let's look at other parts of the state of New York, let's look at other industries as well."

Alexis Williams, a tech teacher at Cicero-North Syracuse High School, has been a part of the initiative from the beginning. She's traveled to Micron locations in Virginia and attended Micron's summer programs locally. Williams said the program has allowed for better curriculum collaboration between educators and better learning opportunities for students.

"Once they are getting the experience and they're doing open-ended problem solving, they are going to acquire every skill that they need to be successful in any outlet that they choose," Williams said.

She said being able to fully prepare students for a local, community workforce is most rewarding.

This article was originally published on WRVO.