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Boots Recipient is Building a Future Close to Home
Quinton Bratcher spent enough summers in a ditch to appreciate the view from a bucket truck. "There's a whole lot more wind coming by you in that bucket than there is in the ditch," said the 2026 Madison County High School graduate. Quinton went from a cap and gown to a paying job with no gap in between.…
HireSmart-funded Drone Program Helps Careers Take Flight
Zachery Hess has a skill most aspiring graphic designers don't. He can fly. Hess is the outgoing drone commander for the Navy JROTC program at Pisgah High School in Canton, North Carolina, where instructor J. Scott Campbell built a competitive drone program with help from a $4,981 HireSmart Cares grant. This fall, Hess heads to East Tennessee State University…
Getting His Hands Dirty Pays Off
Zach Hanson is the kind of person who doesn't just tolerate getting his hands dirty. He likes it. That turns out to be exactly the right disposition for a plumber. "I don't mind working late or getting my hands dirty. I just kind of like that kind of thing," he said. That attitude has served him well. Zach graduated…
Building a Career Without the College Debt
Owen Wilbanks has a goal: by the time his friends finish college, he wants to own a house. He's eighteen, he just graduated from Empower College and Career Center, and he's already doing the math. Owen recently joined Southern Geotechnical Consultants as a field technician, and he enjoys the variety of job sites, traveling to test concrete for a commercial warehouse pour, or…
Eddie White Drone Program Helps Students Imagine Bigger Futures
There's a moment in almost every movie where the camera lifts. The city opens up below. San Francisco, maybe, the bay sliding past under a wide sweeping shot that lasts four seconds and then cuts away. Every kid at Eddie White Middle Academy has seen many shots like that. But Dr. Micki Harris, principal of the school, says many of them ever wondered who took it. "They…
His Passion Came with a Paycheck
Jorland Gless grew up watching his dad and grandfather work on cars. By the time he was old enough to take an automotive class in high school, it felt less like a choice and more like the next natural thing. Now he's doing it for a living. The recent Jackson County graduate was hired full-time at Jefferson Ford…
He Found His Calling in the Shop
He Found His Calling in the Shop John Wingo fell in love with fabrication as a kid, watching his dad weld at a diesel shop. Now the recent high school graduate turns wrenches of his own at Ryan's Diesel Garage off Highway 11. Everything comes through the door: tractors, lawn mowers, cars, diesel engines. Oil changes…