FAIRMONT, W.Va. (AP) - An alarm is ringing in a room at Pierpont filled with monitors showing power plant control room operations.
The vibrations of a turbine, which should be low, are abnormally high, setting off the alert. If the turbine keeps going at this rate, it will shut down.
“If the turbine spins, everybody wins. If it doesn’t spin, we all lose.”
Those words were spoken by Doug Furr, Applied Process Technology coordinator at Pierpont, who was the reason for the high vibrations. He had set a hypothetical turbine at that high rate in a simulation room, in which students in the degree program prepare for the real thing.
“It’s a safe place to screw up,” Pierpont Director of Marketing and Public Relations Bo Sellers says.
Preparing students for the real world is the role of a college, and that’s definitely true in the Applied Process Technology program, where students are prepared for a variety of in-demand careers.
Part of that preparation is putting them through the ringer in the simulation room, where that alarm is still ringing.
“I give them that jumpy feeling,” Furr said. “They feel jumpy after they get done because that’s when I pick up my role as a plant manager and I begin calling the control room and I begin asking them the questions like what happened? Why did it happen? When’s it going to be back online?
“We give them that real plant feeling that they need to have in the workforce.”
Filling a need
With the Applied Process Technology two-year degree, students can embark on different pathways that are putting them directly in front of potential employers.
There are currently 40 students enrolled in the program, following one or more pathways: energy systems operation; advanced manufacturing; and instrumentation and controls. Getting a degree in this program means that students can be prepared for careers as power plant operators, field technicians, working in the coal, oil and gas industries, manufacturing facilities and more, Furr said.
“Any kind of production,” said Mitchell Jordan, Applied Process Technology instructor. “Anywhere you need to collect data and use that data to either control process or make decisions about that process.”
The degree has sponsors including First Energy, which not only provides some of the students in the program with internships, but also has hired many of its graduates.
“First Energy and a number of other companies in the area are part of our advisory board, which helps us set our objective for the program and helps us close the loop, helps us tune our program to output the best possible employees,” Jordan said.
The first Applied Process Technology Program started in 2008, Furr said.
“We had meetings with the folks at Pierpont about putting this program together so that we could provide opportunities for students,” First Energy’s Allen Wilson said. “It was a collaborative effort on the curriculum, us basically saying here’s what we need and here’s what our representatives told us was available. … The first iteration was a certificate program, but as needs evolved, it needed to be a two-year program.
“First Energy, their philosophy is to hire folks that have the skills already rather than bringing them into the workforce and training them from scratch.”
Wilson said they took several of the graduates from the first year of the program. Furr added that in total, First Energy has hired 50 of the program’s graduates.
“I have more requests to fill job openings in these three areas … than we have students,” Furr said. “When we put those students out there, they leave and they’re making good money.”
There are other program sponsors, though Furr said First Energy is the biggest.
“They’re the ones who conceived it, helped to build it, supported us through all the years.”
Hands-on experience
Like any other degree program, there are general education requirements and lectures, but in this program’s classes, students leave their chairs and walk right up to modern equipment where they can practice what they have learned.
Class-labs at Pierpont are filled with equipment similar to what the students would see at an actual power plant or similar operation. And the instructors have real-world experience in what they’re teaching.
“I spent much of my career training people to go into operations,” said Furr, who has worked as a fabricator and welder, worked in nuclear power plants, and held numerous other titles throughout his 45 years of experience. “Some of the things that we try to set up here in labs involve what they would see in the plant. It really is an ideal thing. If they can’t see that thing up close . then they won’t really understand how it works in the plant.”
When something goes wrong in an actual plant, it’s a bad situation. But students practice things going wrong in the classroom, so that they know how to handle issues and problem solve. They work as a team, much as they would at a workplace.
“They learn to follow a process, work as a team, communicate problems, work ahead,” said Jordan, who earned his degree in electronics engineering technology from Fairmont State University, and has also worked as an electrician.
Experience in the classroom is valuable to potential employers such as First Energy.
“Basically they’re getting the fundamentals here, plus we have students come over to our facilities for an eight-week internship,” Wilson said. “You learn the basics, you learn the fundamentals here in the classroom and then they come prepared to go hands-on.
“We don’t pull any punches. We put them right into shift work - which the majority of the operators go into - so they get a real-life feel of what it’s like to be an employee of the power station.”
Onward and upward
Students who do well in the program are those interested in working outside and working with their hands, Furr said, adding that there are mechanical and electrical aspects, as well as some work with computers. An aptitude for science and math can help.
“Science and math are just the rulebook by which the world works,” Jordan said. “We are making the world work, so you need to be able to understand it.”
Wilson added that having a questioning attitude is also important, as it is one of the key values at First Energy.
One thing Jordan says he points out to high schoolers learning about the program is, “you do not have to have a four-year degree to have a really good job in this state.”
Sellers added that the Applied Process Technology program is a “first-choice” program, and as a result, is competitive to get into.
“This is a very viable option,” Wilson said of the program. “Seniors will be graduating, if they don’t know what they want to do, they should take a look at this.”
Job placement out of the program is officially between 80 and 89 percent, Furr said, adding that the employment outlook for graduates is great.
Wilson echoed that there is a need for employees in the jobs that these graduates are trained in, but potential employees still have to be a good fit with the company.
“Even though they go through this program and they do an internship with us or someone else, there’s still an interview process,” Wilson said. “We’re definitely comfortable with technical skills coming out of the program, but they have to be a good fit in our workforce. We need people that can interact well. Everybody is working together in a team.”
If a student graduates from the program and goes to work for First Energy, Wilson said the job entails a lot of hard work, but good payoff.
“An entry-level power plant operator for us can expect to start at $23 an hour,” he said. “The return on investment going through this program is fantastic.”
Non-traditional students also do well in the program, especially veterans, Furr said.
When students graduate the program, and immediately get to work in the industry, Furr said it makes his day.
“It is very satisfying. There’s nothing like it.”
He added that he moved to West Virginia from Texas for two reasons, the lesser of the two being the mountains.
“Number one reason, these kids around here in West Virginia have a hard time making a buck,” Furr said. “I want to pass on what I’ve learned over 45 years of experience, pass it on to get people a job, raise up their station in life.”
Typically two open houses are held each year at Pierpont, Sellers said, though he added that if someone is interested in the program, they should schedule a visit and talk with Furr or Jordan to find out what the program is about.
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Information from: Times West Virginian, http://www.timeswv.com
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