Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a former licensed plumber and mechanical engineer, went back to school this week to see the advanced mechatronics, robotics, nondestructive testing and other skilled trades being taught to high school and college students at Chattanooga State Community College.
Lee praised the training for students and industry workers at the Wacker Institute and the other engineering and automotive training facilities he toured Wednesday at the campus along Amnicola Highway. He has pushed such vocational and trade schools since becoming governor in 2019.
“We’re seeing how our investments in higher education are changing people’s lives and meeting the skill and job needs of our state,” Lee said during a tour of many of the newest facilities at Chattanooga State — one of three Tennessee community colleges he visited this week. “There is really relevant programming going on here at Chattanooga State. They are clearly adapting to what is needed in the workforce, and they are designing programming that is actually going to give people the skills they need to get the jobs they want.”
With Tennessee’s unemployment rate hovering near historic lows and more than twice as many job openings as there are unemployed Tennesseans, such training to fill key skilled jobs is also vital for the state’s economic growth, Lee said.
“This training will not only improve your lives, it helps improve the lives of all Tennesseans,” Lee told students during a tour in the Gerald McCormick vocational training center.