Adair County High School awarded grant for equipment that'll help students prepare for workforce

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Students at Adair County High School will now have more opportunities to gain hands on experience in welding.

The school has been awarded $147,089 in Kentucky Statewide Reserve Funds to purchase a Cl BX Press Brake, which is usually only found at professional welding companies.

At the Adair County Technical School, students can further their skills in a trade while in high school to be prepared for the workforce after graduation as already certified welders.

"Once they learn the welding skill in a welding booth, then we need to apply it to something," Barney Taylor, welding instructor at Lake Cumberland Area Technology Center, said. "We need to put it to work on projects, whether it be something as simple as handrails, whether it be tanks."

With the new equipment, students can now have training and experience on a press brake, which isn't offered at any other educational center in the local area.

The press brake machine is a 3,000 ton piece of equipment that will allow students to go straight from cutting the material to bending and shaping it as desired.

"Nothing is cheap, there's not a lot of funding for things like that," Gale Cowan, Adair County Judge Executive, said.

After conversation with Taylor, Cowan began the process of getting the equipment.

"We started checking around, no grants available and you know, I told him sometimes, no is just not an option," Cowan said.

Her efforts paid off as a call to the Governor's Office led to a conversation with Senior Advisor Rocky Adkins. That got Cowan in contact with the Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act Statewide Reserve Funding.

The Cumberlands Workforce Development Board (CWDB), which is a 29 member advisory board that includes representatives for 13 counties which includes the 10 counties of the Lake Cumberland Area Development District and 3 counties of the Cumberland Valley Area Development District, submitted an application for the grant.

"Helps them to be more technical as they go into the job and helps them to be a step ahead of others," Myra Wilson, Director of Workforce Development said, while Deputy Executive Director, Jeric Devore added the equipment will build on the existing economy.

“It’s going to enhance this community; it’s going to help them be able to fill existing job positions that we need,” Devore said.

It will be at least five months before the program receives the machine, but they already know how much this is going to help the students prepare for the future.

"It's worth the wait," Taylor said.