By: Shayla Terry

Last week, Lurleen B. Wallace Community College’s Luverne Center awarded certificates of completion to three participants of its Ready to Work Program.

Jacob Morgan, Katie Powell, Jaimi Royal completed the program after roughly 108 hours  of course work.

Students attend classes Monday through Thursday. They have the option to complete the program through morning or afternoon classes.

“The program is designed to help citizens who are unemployed or under employed come into a training program made to raised their employability skills,” Associate Dean for Adult Education and Workforce Development Jimmy Hutto said.

Hutto says students are trained in time management, problem solving, diversity of workplace, financial literacy, and computer skills.

Ready to Work, which is free, is funded through the governor’s workforce development fund. LBWCC has been offering the program since 2006.

“Programs like this increase our enrollment because it offers a community service,” Luverne Center Director Laura Elliot said. “This seems to flow very well with the GED program. Students go through these programs and decide to go on and attend LBW as a transfer student or a technical student.”

Powell says she has decided to take advantage of the GED program being offered at LBW. Morgan says he has plans to enroll in LBW. Royal, a psychology student at LBW, says she has hopes to transfer to Troy University upon her completion.

“I was a really good experience,” Royal said. “There was a lot of information that wasn’t only useful in the business world, but also in your everyday life. The LBW staff helped make it even better.

Ready to Work Instructor Dot Youngblood says that she believes each student is ready for the future.

“I want them to be successful in life,” she  said. “I think they will be a lot more prepared for the things they will face in the job force than they were before.”