Lowndes County School District’s career and technical students are getting hands-on experience with heavy machinery, thanks to two new simulators installed Wednesday at the Career and Technology Center.
With the simulators, 115 students in auto, construction, welding and industrial maintenance classes will be trained on heavy equipment from the safety of the classroom. CTC Director Susan McClelland said the idea is to expose students to their future careers as much as possible.
“We’re so grateful for the opportunity to offer this to our students,” McClelland told The Dispatch Wednesday. “It’s just another opportunity for them to be exposed to real life jobs, and particularly jobs in our local area.”
The CTC purchased the two simulators using a $75,731 grant awarded to it in January through the EquipMS Grant program, which the state legislature established last year with the goal of bolstering high school career technical programs.
The program provides funding for career technical centers to modernize, replace or enhance high school programs, specifically those which align with local industry demand. The state awarded nearly $1.4 million through the program this year to different career technical programs across 25 districts, including LCSD.
The simulators use virtual and augmented reality to take students through different exercises at varying levels of difficulty. Inside the simulation, students experience the controls of a full-size piece of equipment, like a bulldozer or excavator, and perform basic tasks, like moving rocks.
Tyler Neal, who teaches carpentry and construction, gave one of the simulators a try, using a bulldozer to load dirt into a dump truck. He said the experience was very realistic, and he expects students will pick it up quickly.
“They’re going to get to drive different types of equipment and kind of get familiar with it (and) learn the muscle memory and mechanics as far as how to operate each type of machinery,” he said. “It’s not going to take away from what we’ve been doing, but it’s going to add in another skill, another employment opportunity when they leave here.”
In his classes, Neal will use the simulators in addition to his current curriculum, with students taking 30-minute turns on them while the rest of the class uses the workshop. He said he’s excited about the skills and opportunities students will gain from practicing on the simulators.
“(It) opens up the possibilities that they have when they leave here,” he said. “Not only are they going to be able to be hired by a dirt working company, but in their personal lives … they would have those skills to go rent a piece of equipment and use it on their own without having to hire somebody.”
Students’ education on heavy machinery will continue after leaving the simulation. McClelland said there are plans for local heavy machinery operators to talk with students and evaluate how they did in the simulation.
While the simulators are specifically for shop class students, McClelland said they will double as a recruiting tool when middle schoolers and ninth-graders tour the facility to decide whether they’ll enroll in career technical classes.
“Those simulators will not only serve the 115 students that we have here … but we feel like it would be a great recruiting tool for those students who are interested in coming over,” she said. “If there was to happen to be a student (outside of the shop classes) who wanted to maybe have some exposure to that, we’re open to that for sure.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.