At the heart of every successful industry are relationships: employers and their workers, buyers and suppliers, distributors and manufacturers, and hundreds of connections both big and small that amount to a moving and thriving economy. At the Port of South Louisiana, those relationships are critical to serving the tri-parish region where industries like agriculture, maritime, construction and petrochemical make up a substantial portion of the area’s jobs and revenue.
However, there’s one relationship the Port is focused on strengthening, one that will ensure longevity and prosperity for years to come: education and opportunity. After all, what good is a region so diverse in career offerings if the next-gen workforce doesn’t know what’s available in their own backyard?
“The biggest challenge is awareness,” says Bruce Waguespack, Vice Chancellor of Workforce Development at River Parishes Community College (RPCC). “As a college, we need to make sure we are aligned with the region’s industries and are providing as much training as we can. We need to be unified in a way that we pique students’ interests and show that we have something to offer them.”
To that end, the Port of South Louisiana and RPCC have a longstanding relationship of mutual support, and together, they’re working to ensure that every student is aware of — and prepared for — an industry career as soon as they graduate. The Port is already a financial benefactor for RPCC, having donated $10,000 to the college for two years in a row, but the collaboration runs much deeper than that. Port Executive Director Paul Aucoin and Chief Operating Officer Dale Hymel, Jr. both sit on RPCC’s Foundation Board, with Hymel currently serving as chairman.
“Right now, we’re all working together to figure out ways to serve all the ports along the River from Baton Rouge to New Orleans,” Waguespack says. “I really look forward to continuing to help out the industry along the river, so we’re interested in doing what we can to train the workforce and be aligned with that economic driver in our region. We have a significant role in making sure we offer programs that get people the skills they need.”
RPCC has pooled the financial contributions from the Port with other donations in order to expand STEM educational offerings for their students. In addition to teaching technical skills like welding, industrial maintenance and process technology, RPCC is tailoring new courses to directly fulfill the needs of industries along the river.
The recent Who Works the River event in Reserve was the first to engage college-age students. RPCC leaders hope it will be the first of many handson learning opportunities.
Later this year, the Reserve campus will offer a new heavy equipment operator course, hopefully providing skilled workers for key industry players like Associated Terminals. The institution will also be opening a new St. Charles Parish campus in 2021 in partnership with United Way, who purchased the new facility.
“We’re not just a resource for the students; we’re for employees, too,” says Mark Savoie, Director of Industry Workforce Solutions at RPCC. “We can begin growing the people our region needs. We’re really looking forward to our St. Charles campus coming online because the more we can offer, that will give us an opportunity for greater exploration in the industrial corridor.”
Earlier this year, Savoie worked with the Port of South Louisiana to host RPCC’s first Who Works the River event with RiverWorks Discovery, an event he says had profound effects on the students.
“When they saw how much was going on and the various instruction types and presentations there were, our students got energized. Some instructors even stopped their classes and brought students outside so they could participate,” Savoie says.
Overseeing interactive and educational programming was the very reason Savoie joined the RPCC team, and he now works in tandem with industry partners to ensure they’re training the kinds of employees companies are looking for right here, right now. That he has decades of experience serving various roles in the maritime industry allows Savoie to share firsthand knowledge of the skills and interests that can be utilized in our region.
“When I talk to students, I don’t just talk about general jobs on the river,” Savoie says. “I talk about actual plants and the various types of equipment and instrumentation these companies need people to work on. Our students had never seen an event like Who Works the River, but when it came to us, they were amazed and flabbergasted by the types of products and services going along the industrial corridor. Most people really don’t know that there’s another world on the other side of that levee, and that’s what the Port was showing them.”
Successful as the event was, Savoie and Waguespack hope this is just the beginning of elevated partnerships not just with the Port and RiverWorks Discovery, but with any industry employers who are hoping to recruit local talent. Their vision for the future includes even more STEM-centered courses at RPCC’s campuses and additional interactive programming events, and they have even discussed a camp-style retreat in St. James Parish where attendees would be trained for critical offshore skills, like swimming in emergency situations.
RPCC is also part of the Reboot Your Career program, which uses CARES Act funding to support workers who may have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The program trains and positions workers on highincome pathways by providing reduced tuition and short-term training at technical and community colleges throughout the state. Funding from this program will directly support RPCC’s expanding course offerings.
All that and more, Savoie says, would not be possible without the contributions and support of their regional partners.
“We want to be able to touch a broader group of students so we can get more people coming to the campus,” Savoie says. “It’s a feeder program for us and for the industry. We exist to serve our community. If we can do more to get students enlightened, aware and interested, it will be better for all of us.”
