Pilot program to prepare local students for technology-based careers at home

Dayton Daily News (Friday, September 28, 2007)

by Kelly Baker
Staff Writer

SPRINGFIELD — Woolpert LLC is a $150 million engineering and geo-spatial imaging firm headquartered in Greene County. Many of its employees are from out of state — most of them foreign nationals.

Qbase is a data management and analytics company based in Beavercreek. It has $90,000-per-year jobs waiting to be filled but is having a tough time finding local workers who are qualified.

That great divide between local, science-centric jobs and science-phobic graduates narrowed Thursday when government, education and business leaders announced a $3 million plan to prepare local graduates for high-tech careers here at home.

Students from Springfield's North and South high schools joined about 200 people at Wittenberg University's Bayley Auditorium, to learn about Future Jobs, a project that would, in cooperation with local high-tech businesses, create curriculum mapping science, technology, engineering and mathematics from middle school through college.

Clark State Community College will be the fiscal agent for the funds. One million dollars came from the state, another $1 million has been raised from the private sector and $1 million is expected to come through donations. Wittenberg, Central State, Cedarville universities and the University of Dayton are also higher-education partners in the program.

State Rep. Chris Widener, R-Springfield, was credited as the visionary for the project.

Widener said Qbase CEO Bill Pardue saw the need when he brought his tech-rich business to the area. The two men took the idea on the road to businesses, colleges, school districts and legislators.

State Sen. Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek, was recognized for taking the $500,000 the Ohio House approved for the project and encouraging the Senate to up it to a full $1 million.

About the program
Future Jobs will focus on increasing readiness for careers in the health and image processing information technology fields like those at Qbase, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Woolpert, YSI and the Greater Dayton Hospital Association. Higher-education partners include Clark State Community College, Wittenberg, Central State, Cedarville universities and the University of Dayton.