Beaufort County Community College kicked off its Advanced Manufacturing Programs Awareness Week with a dinner on Monday, showcasing what the some say will be the career of the future.

Through a grant-funded opportunity for the North Carolina Department of Labor, called the North Carolina Advanced Manufacturing Alliance, community colleges would expand their educational offerings in the area of advanced manufacturing. The alliance is a consortium of 10 community colleges in North Carolina.

“Each school has a unique interpretation of advanced manufacturing,” said Jay Sullivan, vice president of Research and Institutional Effectiveness at BCCC. “Here, at Beaufort, that includes our welding program, machining, drafting, electronics and electrical engineering programs. Tonight is an opportunity for us to thank our advanced manufacturing partners in the community, but also to celebrate the achievements and successes we have had in those program areas.”

Three people spoke at the dinner: Dr. Barbara Tansey, president of BCCC; Dr. Don Phipps, superintendent at Beaufort County Schools; and Bob Heuts, director of Beaufort County Economic Development. The three have been working closely together to initiate continuing education throughout the community — the topic of Tansey’s speech. The initiative is meant to create a skilled labor force in the community as well as to offer students exceptional experience through the programs, according to Tansey.

“Our mission is to try to bring new investment in, create more investment with the existing businesses, but also to create jobs,” said Heuts. “In order to do that, we need a good work force — a skilled work force — and those skills are ever changing, it seems.”

According to Sullivan, the college will host on-campus activities all week to educate students and members of the community about opportunities involving the program. Eighth graders from around the county visited the campus on Monday to tour the program’s facilities and learn about opportunities available for their future educational endeavors. The college will host another group of eighth graders on Wednesday, as well as about 250 high-school students, who will tour the Advanced Manufacturing programs and Industrial Technology programs.

Phipps believes that the partnership’s efforts can yield a seamless transition for students with a (K-14) plan. Career and Technical course paths offered in schools will give students a jump start on exploring career possibilities, enabling them to prepare to take the next step after graduating.

On Thursday, the college will also host BCCC Free Day in which members of the community can come to the college and participate in classes to see what classes, educational programs and instructors are like at Beaufort Community College.

“Our idea is to illustrate to those students and parents that Advanced Manufacturing is the career of the future,” Sullivan said. “It’s all about clean manufacturing; it’s not dirty, it’s clean, it’s well-paying and students leave our programs highly skilled and employable. The theme throughout the week is to celebrate that.”

On Friday, PAS and IDX, two local manufacturing businesses, will allow all ages of students and members of the community to tour its facilities. The two businesses offered a tour Tuesday night, as well.

“We are really trying to celebrate what advanced manufacturing means to our community,” Sullivan said.

According to Sullivan, the college has had a high success rate for placing graduates from its Welding program that, in some ways, predated the alliance. However, with the influx of new technology such as the robotic welder, robotic water jet cutter, robotic sheet metal brake and state of the art welders, students are entering the workplace with experience using machinery that meets or exceeds industry standards.

“Many of our industry partners come to us for advice about what equipment to purchase next,” Sullivan said. “We are really leading that economic development, you might say, in those areas. We are really enjoying those successes.”

According to Heuts, to have a focus on advanced manufacturing means higher-paying jobs than those of other sectors, such as retail. As skills improve, salaries will, too.

“Without education, without cooperation and collaboration of what they have here (at BCCC), economic development doesn’t exist,” Heuts said.