Pierpont Technical College Looks to Up Enrollment

West Virginia’s state legislature has approved a $25-million budget allocation for the construction of an aviation maintenance training facility at the Mountain State’s North Central West Virginia Airport (CKB).

The proposed 70,000-square-foot structure will facilitate increased enrollment in nearby Pierpont Community and Technical College’s aviation tech program. The college aspires to see the aforementioned program grow from its current roster of 130 students to upwards of two-hundred enrollees.

Architects are currently hard at work designing a pair of new high-bay hangars conducive to the accommodation of larger aircraft. In addition, the new structure will feature facilities appropriate to the study and repair of reciprocating- and turbine-engines, flight-controls, and hydraulic systems.

Pierpont Community and Technical College Aviation Program director Brad Gilbert stated: "The new building and increased capacity will help Pierpont to better serve the economic interests of the aviation companies in north-central West Virginia.”

North-central West Virginia aerospace industry is booming at present. Operations have been established in Harrison County and South Fairmont—the latter being home to the I-79 Technology Park and NASA’s Independent Verification and Validation (IV &V) facility.

Speaking to the subject of his school’s past and future contributions to West Virginia’s aerospace workforce, Pierpont Community and Technical College president Milan Hayward set forth: "As the state's aviation industry grows, this new state-of-the-art facility allows Pierpont to provide even-more highly skilled graduates. Graduates who can enter the workforce immediately.”

Todd Ensign, a program manager at NASA’s IV &V facility and a professor at Fairmont State University, Pierpont's sister institution remarked: "You don't have to leave the area for training if you want to work in the industry. It's all right here."

Founded in 1974, Pierpont Community & Technical College maintains the second-largest enrollment of the community and technical colleges of which the West Virginia Community and Technical College System consists. Pierpont serves North-Central West Virginia’s Barbour, Braxton, Calhoun, Doddridge, Gilmer, Harrison, Lewis, Marion, Monongalia, Preston, Randolph, Taylor and Upshur counties, with classes offered at more than 15 locations throughout the region. The school’s student/faculty ratio is a favorable 17:1.

By preparing students for practical hands-on careers and providing non-credit enrichment courses for individuals and customized workplace training for local employers, Pierpont has proved a boon to West Virginia’s growing high technology sector.

FMI: www.pierpont.edu