A new 10-week carpentry course will begin this July at Wharton County Junior College's Bay City campus.
BAY CITY, TEXAS – Wharton County Junior College recently launched construction trades training at the Bay City Campus. The first course offered was Construction Materials and Methods I. A new 10-week course, Introduction to Carpentry, begins July 16, 2024.
“We want to recognize and thank Senator Joan Huffman and members of the 88th Legislature for additional funding to create a construction trades training center in Matagorda County at the Bay City campus,” said WCJC President Betty McCrohan.
An initial 10,000 square feet of the Bay City campus is currently under renovation to accommodate the construction trades training initiative, with plans to expand to 20,000 square feet as more courses are added. The overall project is valued at roughly $2 million.
The program includes four courses including Construction Materials, OSHA 10 (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), Introduction to Carpentry and Basic Framing. Introduction to Carpentry is a 10-week course that covers safety, skills and construction drawings. Classes begin on July 16, 2024.
Students will receive a certificate of completion for each course they complete. If they complete all four, they qualify to take the National Center for Construction Education & Research (NCCER) examination to earn their NCCER national certification. Registration for the Introduction to Carpentry course can occur at any time up to three days before the classes begin. Enrollment is limited.
The instructor for the carpentry program is Bruce Holley, a University of Houston graduate with 50 years of knowledge in the construction trades. Holley began his career as a carpenter apprentice and eventually worked his way up to owning his own construction company.
WCJC’s Dean of Workforce Danny Bacot says the construction trades are a fast growing industry, with the state of Texas possessing a higher rate of construction than the rest of the nation. Median pay for carpenters is $51,390 annually, according to the 2022 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook.
For more information on the trade school or the carpentry program, visit the college’s website.
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