Editor, The Commercial:
The Jefferson Area Technical Career Center (JATCC), formerly Jefferson Area Vocational Center (JAVC), is grateful to Mike Adam of the Pine Bluff Commercial, and Ms. Cain and Dr. Colen at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB), for the opportunity to participate and to gain local and national recognition during the UAPB 2011 Homecoming parade. Hilda Watley, the Business and Banking Instructor at JATCC, said she came up with an idea to enter a float in the parade with theme, “Sail into a Great Future at JATCC and UAPB,” because UAPB is referred to as the “Flagship of the Delta.”
Also, Johnny Hadley, the JATCC director, had issued a challenge to the JATCC teaching staff to come up with ways to advertise the center. Assisted by Greg Waters, and Cecilia Sanchez, JATCC welding and nursing instructors and their students, the float idea became reality.
According to Watley, who has been at the center since the second year of operation in 1998, the career center is still one of the “best kept secrets” in Pine Bluff. JAVC was founded in 1997 by Curtis Merrill, director emeritus of the Arkansas River Education Services Co-op (ARESC), to provide “Career Enhancement Courses” to area high school students in grades 10 through 12. JATCC courses: Banking and Finance, Computer Assisted Drafting, Criminal Justice, Welding, Medical and Nursing Assisting are free to high school students and fulfill elective requirements. To take advantage of these courses, students or parents of students in grades nine through 12 should see their high school counselor.
Hilda Watley
Jefferson Area Technical Career Center