MEMPHIS, TN — Southwest Tennessee Community College (STCC) recently celebrated its annual Open House at its flagship Macon Cove Campus, Friday, April 18. Titled “Igniting the Workforce,” the two-hour meet and greet event opened up the classes and the halls to students and guests to celebrate STCC’s ages-old legacy.
Finding an STCC graduate or current student in any hospital hallway in Memphis, and probably other cities throughout the nation, is easy. There are seven locations convenient to neighborhoods throughout the city, and it’s not a stretch to say, “It would be hard for many people to see where they would be without STCC.”
Amy Shead, Associate Vice President of Workforce Development for Career and Technical Education, has been at STCC 29 years, beginning at State Technical Institute at Memphis before it was merged with Shelby State Community College in 2000.
Shead said her journey began when, “I came here as the testing specialist for a new grant program. I got an opportunity to work with people that were looking for a better opportunity in life and I learned that I like that type of work, so I’ve worked in this arena for a long time.”
Her path mirrors STCC’s platform. “I got started with TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) recipients getting their Graduate Equivalency Diplomas (GED). We helped them by writing educational prescriptions for them that would determine the best choice for them. We help people become skilled, re-skill or up-skill.”
One of the most intriguing of the many opportunities she explained, the process removes the initial fear many people just starting out or in the blue-collar lane often express, a perceived lack of background or experience to create a resume. STCC is ready for them, she says. “We let them see themselves on paper and that’s often the first time for many of them. They learn, ‘I like people,’ or ‘I like processes,’; they get a chance to see who they are and then make an informed decision about how to accomplish their goals and we provide what they need to do so.”
It’s really gratifying, she says. “I don’t care how many times you see it happen, it’s exhilarating. Especially when you get that person that has to reinvent themselves, that’s really great. That’s how the “Igniting The Workforce” theme was developed.”
The student body’s energy rubs off on the staff, at least for her. “It makes you always search for new programs to bring to the school, new ways to minimize costs. We constantly work with industries to stay up to date on what they require. We are intent on staying on the cutting edge.”
The pandemic created a perfect pivot point putting STCC to the test.
“We listened to the students and adapted. They wanted shorter courses. The businesses were expressing they could not wait (for qualified skilled employees). So we aligned our technical certificates with our associate degrees, but we frontloaded the technical courses to provide a touch point so students could get to the core of that industry. We changed the way we deliver those courses in the hope that the student would have that credential that would at least give them the certification in that first year so they would have something to sustain themselves. And we are set up so even if they have to stop, we’re ready for them when they’re able to restart. We offer more than 140 programs, so it doesn’t matter where you enter, whether in non-credit training, or degree training, we are ready and we want you to have the best experience when coming to Southwest.”
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