‘Lightbulb Moments’ Ashley Furniture Brings Mobile Skills Lab to Pontotoc Schools
Sep 11, 2024 - Pontotoc, MS
by: Addie Davis, Daily Journal
Ashley Furniture Industries, local community members and Mississippi leaders cut the ribbon on a Mobile Skills Laboratory at Pontotoc Ridge Career and Technology Center this week.
The lab arrived at the career and tech center in July, but Gov. Tate Reeves, Itawamba Community College president Jay Allen, Ashley CEO Todd Wanek and Ashley founder Ron Wanek came together Tuesday in a ceremony to open the lab officially.
“We're proud to be here in Mississippi,” Ron Wanek said.
Ashley donated the state-of-the-art mobile classroom for use by both Pontotoc County Schools and the Pontotoc City School District over the course of the next three years. Ashley invested $3 million in 2018 to build the MSL, which offers more than 300 competency-based courses in advanced manufacturing and “industry 4.0” for high school credit. (Industry 4.0 refers to the rapid technological advances of the 21st century.)
“Today represents training Mississippians for the jobs of the next 50 years,” Reeves said.
The course work covers such fields as electrical wiring, motor controls, programming, print reading, mechanical fabrication, hydraulics and computer-aided drafting. According to a joint release from Pontotoc schools and Ashley, the schools aim to put 350 students through MSL coursework annually.
“I am excited about the opportunity for our students to learn the skills that are going to be required in the workforce in the future,” South Pontotoc High School Principal Brant Puckett said.
About 15% of Pontotoc County Schools graduates earn four-year degrees, Pontotoc County Schools Superintendent Brock Puckett said. That means PCS needs to provide the other 85% with employable skills. The goal should be to give those students the skills they need, then employ them in their local community, he said.
Through the SML, Pontotoc schools plan to help at least 40 students gain Smart Automation Certification Alliance (SACA) credentials in just the first year, said Amanda Wood, the lead teacher in Pontotoc for the MSL.
In the Mobile Skills Lab, “students are going to have access to state-of-the-art trainers — the same kind that is used in industry to train adults,” Wood said. “We hope just to build a pipeline of skilled workers for our community and our area.”
Since the MSL is a temporary installation, Pontotoc schools plan to use it as a model for their future career and technology programs, Wood added. That way, Pontotoc can maintain the benefits the MSL offered while it moves on to another community.
“This is the seed, and it's being planted today, and then we'll grow this into our own building and our own facility,” Pontotoc County Schools superintendent Brock Puckett said.
In the weeks since the MSL arrived in Pontotoc, students have already started training there. Different CTE tracks will take turns cycling through the lab; advanced manufacturing, engineering and electrical classes have already taken turns using the facility.
“What I really like is the kids, seeing them interact with it,” Brock Puckett said. “That's why you become a teacher … for the lightbulb moments. (This) is a whole new box of lightbulbs.”