Governor Scott Sits Down, Talks Jobs with Students at Florida State College at Jacksonville

The Governor launched his visit with a tour of the Aviation Center of Excellence and a sit-down discussion with about 60 Florida State College at Jacksonville students in the air traffic control, aircraft coating, logistics and commercial vehicle driving programs.

“I think one thing as Governor you need to do—plus is enjoyable to do—is to try and get feedback from people. Everybody here—they know what it’s like out in the market. They know what it’s like to go through the training program and so, the more you can sit down with people when you’re Governor and hear their ideas and listen to them, I think the better decisions you’ll make,” says Scott.

So what did Governor Scott take away from his one-on-one with students?

“They’re worried about getting jobs when they finish,” says Scott. “The one thing that changes your life is your ability to get a job.”

With 900,000 Floridians out of work, the students’ concerns are legit. However, Scott says he’s confident his “Seven Steps to 7,000 jobs” plan will help people get back to work and allow the state to get back to business.

The plan includes:

• Streamlining business permitting and eliminating burdensome rules and regulations
• Providing tax relief and reform for Florida’s working families and businesses
• Reforming Florida’s unemployment system to create a reemployment system
• Restoring accountability and credibility to Florida’s Workforce Boards
• Prioritizing vital transportation projects to facilitate economic development opportunities
• Offering stability to Florida businesses by balancing the budget without raising taxes
• Prioritizing science, technology, engineering and mathematics in education

Florida State College at Jacksonville is instrumental in the success of this economic and workforce development plan.

“First off, Florida State College has great programs like this [logistics, aviation and commercial vehicle driving]. These programs are clearly programs where [the College] teamed up with employers who are saying these are programs we need because we have job openings down the road. That’s where the jobs are going to be. The state college system does a great job. Florida State College in particular does a great job of working with employers to make sure the programs they have are programs where people can get jobs,” says Scott.
And will be able to get jobs in the near future. Florida State College at Jacksonville is developing programs that will feed emerging, expanding and evolving fields, including Food Safety, Digital Media and Converged Communications.

“We have to take the long view. The recession is unfortunate for a lot of reasons, but we can’t let that stop us,” says President Steven Wallace, Florida State College at Jacksonville.

While the College doesn’t currently have a designated clean tech program, some of its existing educational and training programs do prepare students for jobs in green technology.

The Boston Globe recently published a story on Boston.com about the top ten jobs in green technology in the U.S. That list includes environmental scientists and specialists, electricians, carpenters, plumbers, construction managers and construction and building inspectors. Guess what? Florida State College and Florida Coast Career Tech (A division of Florida State College at Jacksonville) offers programs to prepare students for these jobs. Coincidence? No.

Workforce and economic development are key components of the College’s mission. In fact, the advice Scott offered to our more than 80-thousand students before he left the Aviation Center of Excellence is the advice students hear all too often from faculty, academic advisors and career counselors:

“What I’d tell them is: think everyday … is the time you’re spending on your education—[is that where jobs are] going to be? Make sure that you’re not spending your time on getting a degree where you can’t get a job,” says Scott.

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