By Randy Patrick

When two Bardstown companies made a $5,000 challenge grant to the Nelson County Area Technology Center last September to buy new equipment for the school’s computer-assisted design class, it wasn’t because they thought they would benefit from the donation.

Instead, it was a way of showing their appreciation for the benefits they had already received from the school.

Most of the company’s employees have been trained through the center or another technology school.

“It seemed like the right thing to do to reinvest in the tech school that has provided us so much labor in the past,” said Paul Haydon, president and chief executive officer of Armag Corporation, which builds storage vaults for explosives and weapons.

He and his brother, David Haydon, president of Haydon Holdings, gave the money to cover more than half of the cost of purchasing new personal computers and encourage other companies to match the amount.

Haydon said the Area Technology Center is an important resource for industrial firms like Armag.

“We’re not a service-oriented business, we’re manufacturing, and we need skilled labor,” he said. “It’s harder to find skilled labor than it was twenty years ago.”

Haydon cited two reasons for the shortage of skilled labor. One is that years ago, factories hired workers who grew up on family farms and had to learn mechanical skills to repair farm equipment and do other skilled work on the farm. With the decline of the family farm, not as many people have that background now. The other reason is that in recent decades, there has been an over-emphasis on sending students from high school to college, so that there are many graduates with a liberal arts education but not enough with a technical education.

Lately, there’s been more of a “shift in thinking” toward technical education because of the dearth of skilled workers.

“We need to advance trades,” not just academics, he said.

“I think it’s critical,” Haydon said when asked how important it is to have a school like NCATC in a community.

Kim Huston, director of the Nelson County Economic Development Corporation, said such relationships between local businesses and the Area Technology Center are an important element in the community’s industrial and economic growth strategy.

Recently, Bardstown was named a Work Ready Community in Progress by the Kentucky Workforce Investment Board and the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet, and NCATC was a factor.

Also, she said, NELCO Training Inc., a consortium of human resource managers, has partnered with the Area Technology Center and the Adult Learning Center to provide training and share costs.

“It’s not the old vocational school that it used to be,” Huston said. “It has truly become a training ground for our local industries.”

Liz Hardin, the HR director for Mitsuba and a member of NELCO, said she works closely with the technology center.

“We talk with them about the types of training we need in our business, and we send people for training,” she said.

She said the school did some leadership training for new supervisors, and she has an employee of Mitsuba who is currently studying industrial maintenance at the school. When he completes the program, he’ll have a diploma that’s similar to an associate’s degree, she said. The tech center has also worked with Mitsuba employees in Excel training and training for molding equipment.

Hardin’s thoughts mirrored Haydon’s about the technology school’s importance to industry and the local economy.

“It’s our future,” she said. “If you don’t have some training for the needs of the community, then the businesses don’t stay here. Or if you’re not training the students to earn a living wage, they’ll also leave the community. So it’s a win, win for both of us.”