The year was 2018. The Lowndes County School District’s $11 million Career Tech Center was set to open when students returned to classes in August while work on East Mississippi Community College’s $38 million Communiversity was well on its way to completion.

While both projects were in the development stage, almost all of the focus was on advanced manufacturing training to provide workers for the Golden Triangle’s booming manufacturing industry. What wasn’t being discussed very much was how these new programs could help smaller businesses, primarily in construction-related fields.

“We were raising our hand, saying don’t forget us,” said Christie Holbrook, co-owner of Graham Roofing. “We all love having all this big manufacturing, so our message was, ‘Hey, we’re struggling to find employees. Where can we fit into this?’”

To encourage both CTC and Communiversity to embrace the needs of small businesses, a group of eight local construction-related businesses joined forces to create the Family Organizations Recruiting Great Employees (FORGE) Foundation. The FORGE Foundation’s approach was simple: use member company employees to introduce students to the construction industry.

Traditionally, school vocational programs functioned with little contact with the real-world companies and the jobs students were being trained for. The FORGE Foundation broke down that barrier for junior high and high school students.

The Lowndes CTC curriculum includes hands-on training through 10 programs, including Automotive Service Technician. The program operates out of a huge room with high ceilings, a roll-up bay door and hydraulic lifts, along with all the necessary tools.

The program has everything you could want for automotive training.

Everything, that is, except for an instructor.

As the school year begins, the automotive program is in a state of limbo as the district finds itself searching for an instructor.

It’s a challenge, certainly, but also a great opportunity.

Surely there is a retired auto service mechanic who wants to stay busy. Or, much as FORGE engaged its own employees to work directly with kids, maybe local automotive companies could provide instructors, perhaps on a rotating basis among the local auto shops.

Training in some fields can be achieved in the classroom, but there’s no substitute for hands-on training in fields such as automotive technology. We commend Lowndes County School District for offering diverse training at CTC and are confident they’ll find a solution to their need for an instructor.

The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.