Prepare Students for Real-World, High-Paying Jobs

By Aaron Klein

"Preparing students to start businesses, create jobs, or fill those jobs is one of our highest callings at Sierra College." -- Aaron Klein

One great example of where our faculty and staff have already done this is our Mechatronics program + an integrated curriculum focused on the intersection between mechanics, hydraulics and pneumatics, with computers, software and robotics. The result is a program training students to repair hybrid cars, ATM and gaming machines and gasoline pumps + and we haven't successfully graduated a single student yet, because every one of them has been hired to a good-paying job first!

The Agenda for Change

Establish the Sierra College Workforce Development Commission of local business owners, elected officials and community leaders, to review all of our job training efforts, and make recommendations to the college on workforce needs, and how to adapt our current programs to better fit the demands of today's job market.

Establish the "Reaching Higher for Hope" fund, in partnership with area businesses, to raise money for student scholarships tied to specific training programs for specific workforce needs.

Establish the Sierra Economic Development Partnership, bringing together economic development organizations from all of our cities and counties, to present a unified message and attract new businesses and high-paying jobs to our region.