Coastal Pines Technical College’s (CPTC) Registered Apprenticeship Program has been on a steady incline over the last two years with more than 40 local business and industry partners in the program. South Georgia Cotton Gin, now part of the Cotton Partners Company, was the first Commercial Truck Driving Apprenticeship Partner.
Mr. James Selph, a Commercial Truck Driving student, has worked at South Georgia Cotton Gin for Mr. Gary Evans as a Registered Apprentice and is the first Registered Apprenticeship Program completer for Coastal Pines.
James graduated in June with both his Technical Certificate of Credit for the CDL program, as well as his Certificate of Completion from the Department of Labor (DOL). This occasion marked the first time James had ever walked across a stage for completion of any program or credential. After obtaining his CDL certification as well as the DOL apprenticeship certification, James is now going to be working towards obtaining his High School Equivalency so he can prepare himself for promotions or job opportunities in the future.
Mr. Gary Evans of South Georgia Cotton Gin said this of James’ latest accomplishments, “The Registered Apprenticeship Program at Coastal Pines has allowed us to promote from within to fill our workforce needs. In one of the two cases for us, it helped us to provide potential higher paying level of employment for an employee who has employment challenges, in this case a lack of a GED. The apprenticeship program allowed us to do this in a manner that provided minimal disruption to our workflow as the students were able to get their experience hours while performing duties beneficial to the company and without losing all the time to and from classes daily. It allowed the students to remain employed, earning a paycheck to pay their taxes and bills even while learning a new skillset.”
Since 2023, Coastal Pines has cultivated registered partnerships with 8 local companies and has enrolled 15 CDL apprentices into the program. To learn more about the Registered Apprenticeship Program at Coastal Pines, visit https://www.coastalpines.edu/apprenticeship-program.