Education Center Helps Pair Find a New Career

The Pinellas Technical Education Centers (PTEC) along with its Public Works Academy has been offering students various career and technical education courses since 1962.

Currently, it offers more than 60 programs including accounting and automotive service technology, computer systems technology and dental assistant and practical nursing.

Fifty-five-year old Edward Davidson and twenty-two-year-old Rashard Young are both students at the Public Works Academy. They volunteer at Pinellas County’s South Cross Bayou Water Reclamation facility as part of the curriculum’s volunteer requirement time needed to graduate.

Young says he is interested in someday becoming a water treatment plant operator. He discovered that PTEC enabled him an opportunity to get his “foot in the door with a big city or municipality” while going to school and getting his license.

Davidson, who previously worked in construction, says he was looking for a career change when he heard about PTEC. He likes that the program gives him hands-on training and opportunities to network with those in the field. Davidson would also like to become a facility operator.

Pinellas County volunteers can expect to make a difference in the life of their community, while exploring interests, sharing knowledge, assisting others and making friends. For more information, visit www.pinellascounty.org/volunteer, email volunteers@pinellascounty.org or call (727) 464-VIPS(8477).