In honor of National Apprenticeship Week, the Collision Engineering Career Alliance hosted a signing ceremony with the Department of Labor Office of Apprenticeship, recognizing the approval of the National Guidelines for Apprenticeship Standards for training collision engineering technicians. The event took place at the Automotive Training Center on Metropolitan Community College (mccneb.edu) South Omaha Campus on Tuesday, May 19.
The event brought together representatives from the Department of Labor, the Collision Engineering Career Alliance, MCC Collision Engineering students and instructors, local employers and industry partners to celebrate Collision Engineering’s achievement as a federally registered apprenticeship program. Attendees included:
- Dr. Nate Barry, Vice President for Strategic Operations and Initiatives, Metropolitan Community College
- Joe Baker, Collision Engineering Program Instructor, Metropolitan Community College
- Jim Wightman, Nebraska State Director, Department of Labor Office of Apprenticeship
- Mary Mahoney, President, Collision Engineering Career Alliance
- Shelly Jones, National Workforce Development Director
- Collision Engineering Career Alliance
- Collision Engineering students, industry partners and local employers
- Business and community leaders
The National Guidelines for Apprenticeship Standards (NGS) certification is a model for developing local programs that meet all regulatory requirements under federal law with the Office of Apprenticeship. Approval of these guidelines advances Collision Engineering’s mission to address increasing demand for a highly skilled collision repair workforce by bringing together education and industry to transform how collision repair technicians are trained and retained.
For more information on Metropolitan Community College, please visit mccneb.edu.