A strong, ready workforce

As a proud part­ner in eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment, YEC has a strong tie to indus­tries in our area. Did you know skilled work­ers are in demand? A ready work­force is not only cov­et­ed by indus­tries cur­rent­ly in our area, but also those look­ing to relo­cate. Whether you plan to go to a four-year school or are look­ing at oth­er alter­na­tives, I urge you to con­sid­er tech­ni­cal col­lege. I can promise that after attend­ing a tech­ni­cal col­lege, job place­ment will be eas­i­er, and your salary will be high­er when you enter the work­force. Hav­ing these skills pays off. Col­lege isn’t for every­one. Like your teach­ers, we encour­age our stu­dents and their par­ents to think out­side the box when it comes to their futures.

There are many oppor­tu­ni­ties avail­able right at your back­door at York Tech­ni­cal Col­lege and their part­ner­ships with local high schools. It’s amaz­ing to be able to grad­u­ate with a leg up on your future career through simul­ta­ne­ous­ly com­plet­ing col­lege-lev­el course work while you are still in high school. That’s why YEC is proud to spon­sor the ‚000 Tech­ni­cal Advan­tage Schol­ar­ship for the third year. Appli­ca­tions for the 2019–2020 school year will open next month, so keep an eye out!

This month, we would like to high­light and com­mend Clover and York School Dis­tricts for their work incor­po­rat­ing a new pro­gram into their cur­ricu­lum that engages and pre­pares stu­dents, help­ing to build a ready work­force. Togeth­er with York Tech­ni­cal Col­lege, Clover and York Schools have part­nered to pro­vide South Car­oli­na’s first linework­ers train­ing pro­gram at the high school lev­el. Clover Super­in­ten­dent Sheila Quinn looks for­ward to the oppor­tu­ni­ties this pro­gram will pro­vide stu­dents. She said, “Authen­tic part­ner­ships between pub­lic schools, the tech­ni­cal col­lege sys­tem, and busi­ness and indus­try give our stu­dents the best oppor­tu­ni­ty to make a seam­less tran­si­tion into the work­force. This pro­gram has the poten­tial to become a mod­el of that strate­gic alliance.”

Stu­dents can learn tech­ni­cal and safe­ty skills for line work like they are on-the-job, prepar­ing them for future careers sup­port­ing the infra­struc­ture in our area right out of school. More impor­tant­ly, they will know ear­ly on if this field is the right fit for them, allow­ing them to make more edu­cat­ed deci­sions about their career path. Com­mu­ni­ty part­ners, includ­ing Duke Ener­gy, Com­po­ri­um, Amer­i­can Safe­ty, Williams Elec­tric, S.C. Forestry Com­mis­sion and your co-op, have come togeth­er to cre­ate a train­ing area that will be shared by both school dis­tricts.

YEC is proud to have played a small part in this inno­v­a­tive learn­ing expe­ri­ence, and we look for­ward to many oth­er sim­i­lar pro­grams devel­op­ing in the com­ing years. We’re more than just a pow­er com­pa­ny, we’re locals look­ing out for you, your stu­dents and your future.

Paul Basha
Pres­i­dent and Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer

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Member Comfort Update

We are excit­ed to announce that YEC now offers mobile device pay­ments for walk-in mem­bers at our office loca­tions! As part of the Mem­ber Com­fort Ini­tia­tive, we want­ed to make it as easy as pos­si­ble for our mem­bers to make their elec­tric bill pay­ments and thought we should incor­po­rate some of the lat­est tech­nol­o­gy. For­got your wal­let? No prob­lem! Now you can just tap and go! Device sup­port infor­ma­tion