Patrick Kent, a student at Carl D. Perkins Job Corps Center, is following in his father’s footsteps by choosing Job Corps to jump-start his career.

Patrick Kent, right, continues a family tradition of Job Corps training that started with his father, Frederick Kent, left.
In 1978 Patrick’s father, Fredrick Kent, attended the Morganfield Job Corps Center in Morganfield, KY, now known as the Earle C. Clements Job Corps Center, and studied drafting. Fred remembers the benefits the Job Corps program provided him and was a big influencer in his son Patrick’s decision to enroll in Job Corps.

Forty years after Fred attended Job Corps, Patrick enrolled at the Carl D. Perkins Job Corps Center in June 2018. Since then he has completed the Basic Security and Advanced Security career technical training programs and earned eight nationally recognized credentials. He also has completed his first semester at Big Sandy Community and Technical College with a 3.75 GPA, under the center’s Advanced Career Training partnership with the college, which allows Perkins students to attend college at no cost to themselves and continue to live on center. Patrick is working toward an associate degree in Criminal Justice and plans to continue his college education and then become a correctional officer at the Luther Luckett Correctional Complex in LaGrange, KY. Patrick also has assumed leadership positions at the center, serving as treasurer of the Student Government Association, a recreation leader and dorm vice president.

Fred, who is very proud of his son Patrick and his accomplishments so far, believes that Job Corps provides youth with focus, good decision-making skills and counseling and helps youth set personal and career goals.

Job Corps continues to evolve since its creation in 1964 to align with the changing economy and workforce. We at Carl D. Perkins Job Corps look forward to continuing to train future generations for promising careers and successful lives.