Tech College gives Moran the hard sell
Planned tour postponed for immediate issues
By Joey Berlin
Friday, November 30, 2007
Flint Hills Technical College and Westar Energy used Rep. Jerry Moran’s visit to Emporia to enlist Moran as a powerful advocate for the need to find students willing to work in the energy industry.
Moran visited FHTC on Thursday afternoon after speaking at the Emporia Country Club, but his planned tour of the college never occurred. Moran, accompanied by state Rep. Peggy Mast, talked to school personnel in a conference room for a little over an hour, including college President Dean Hollenbeck and Dean of Students Lisa Kirmer. Also present were representatives of Westar Energy.
Hollenbeck and Westar’s Mark Schreiber talked to Moran about the college’s partnership with Westar, the retiring work force in the energy field and the need to find workers to replace retirees.
Moran mostly listened and asked questions, such as when he asked one of Westar’s representatives if he saw there being an increase in nuclear power plants being built in the near future. The representative said it couldn’t be ruled out.
Hollenbeck told Moran that the biggest problem with finding interest in vocational education is the perception that vocational schools were for people who couldn’t make it in traditional forms of education.
“And those days were gone 25 years ago. That’s not the case anymore,” Hollenbeck said. “Of course, at a technical college, the bar is considerably raised. We have the same entrance exams as KU, KSU, Emporia State.”
Hollenbeck said FHTC’s partnerships with Westar and other energy companies were a way to change that perception.
After the meeting, Schreiber said he was satisfied that Moran had seen the importance of increasing interest in programs that prepare students for the energy and power plant industries.
“I think he understands it,” Schreiber said, “because there’s a large area he represents in the state — western Kansas, central Kansas — there’s a need out there for those students that are coming out of high school that might not consider a four-year college or university.”
With an engagement in Wichita later in the day, Moran was on a tight schedule and ran out of time before he could take the tour. But he said he would commit to returning to FHTC, where he was visiting for the first time in a few years.