Training in high school, community college leads to rewarding career

February 2, 2016

Alfred Serio was a student at Bay High School when he signed up for a two-year metal trades course at the Hancock County Career and Technical Center. It was the start of a career for the Ansley resident.

“I liked it right off the bat,” Serio said. “I just like making things.” He went on to the metal trades program offered at Pearl River Community College and received his degree of proficiency. Since then he has worked his way up in machinists jobs, including at Stennis Space Center. He now works for an engineering company, repairing equipment and machining parts for oil refineries.

The work requires dealing with numbers and being good with your hands, he said. His classroom and hands-on training in high school and community college gave him the foundation he needed to start out as an apprentice and work now as a journeyman and a field supervisor.

“It’s definitely a good trade to get into. I’ve always had work,” he said. “You learn a lot and see a lot.” His employer has sent him to California and Boston to work on special projects. “It also can lead to other types of jobs like quality control and even in the engineering department,” he said.

Serio said his son wants to follow in his career path and he is encouraging him to do that. 

“It’s a very rewarding career. You get trained to read blueprints, read measuring devices and you know you can make things work. It feels good to make something with your hands.”

The Hancock County Career and Technical Center continues to give students opportunities to explore careers and gain the skills to pursue work in a variety of industry jobs. HCCTC also works with industry partners to keep their training programs aligned with the needs of local companies.

As a result, Hancock County’s industries consider the training offered at the high school and community college levels to be robust enough to replace on-the-job training and are often able to hire students right out of the two-year instrumentation program at PRCC or the two-year process technology program at MGCCC.