09/22/09: ECC Answers Obama’s Call for More Technology Workers

“You need a higher level of education now. High School doesn’t work anymore,” said Buffalo’s Darryl Brzezniak. The Erie County Community College Information Technology Student works two jobs and goes to college full time. Brzezniak says rising technology needs brought him back to school.
“I worked more physical so now it’s time for me to put my brain to use. So that’s why I decided to go to I.T., and plus there’s more money to be made in I.T. at this point,” said Brzezniak.
Monday President Barack Obama visited Troy, NY’s Hudson Valley Community College to lead the charge for more technology based jobs. Sister campus Erie County Community College is working on the statewide initiative to train more technology students.
“Over the last few decades you’ve worn the brunt of a changing economy that has seen manufacturing companies close in the face of global competition,” said the president to a packed auditorium. President Barack Obama set fourth what he calls an ‘ambitious goal’ to get more college graduates here in the United States than any other nation by 2020. But first students have to be able to afford to pay for classes. Some ECC students say that’s why they chose community college. ECC leaders say it’s time to modify how higher education caters to students.
“Take these manufacturing workers who have lost jobs particularly in Upstate New York, the Northeast and the rustbelt and to retrain them,” Erie Community College President Jack Quinn. Enrollment is up 9% at ECC with 15,000 full time students. This semester ECC started offering biomanufacturing, computer security and investigative digital forensics.
“We need to teach them the right courses. We need to train them where the jobs are going to be,” Quinn added.
“I worked and I just wanted to change fields and do something different,” ECC Industrial Engineering Student Quentin Bryant. He holds two associates degrees, but felt he needed an upgrade.
“By the time I graduate the economy will be back on its feet, jobs will be opening up,” smiled Bryant.