Charleston Mayor Danny Jones and Job Corps Philadelphia Regional Director Francis Cole were among guests Thursday, May 7, for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the new Dental Assistant Lab and Pharmacy Tech Lab at the Charleston Job Corps Center.

Cole said the new labs, which will train students for national certification in both dental assisting and pharmacy technician jobs, are a good return on the Department of Labor’s $500,000 investment to construct the labs.

Center Director Willie Brown noted that the new dental assistant program will train students for high demand, high paying jobs in career paths that have plenty of advance potential.

Jones praised the new facilities and the new training programs available to students, noting that these opportunities align with the vision of the late Curtis Price, a Charleston native and former center director at CJCC whose career in Job Corps was committed to helping young people improve their lives.

Also speaking at the ribbon-cutting ceremony was Sara Payne, deputy state director for Sen. Joe Manchin, who congratulated Charleston Job Corps on offering this new career training opportunity for students.

Fred Joseph, district director for Congressman Alex Mooney, shared a story about a woman walking a beach and throwing stranded starfish back into the ocean. A passerby questioned the validity of her actions, saying she’d never be able to save all the starfish or really make a difference.

The woman stooped over, picked up another starfish and tossed it into the water, saying, “Well, I made a difference for that starfish.” Joseph said Job Corps is much the same. It can’t help all young people, but it can make a dramatic difference in the lives of young people who do enroll in the program and embrace the valuable career training they receive.

Other guests included Rod Blackstone, deputy mayor of Charleston; William Pebbles, DOL project manager for the Charleston Job Corps; and Kimberly Knapp, president of the CJCC Community Relations Council.

The dental assistant lab will support the Charleston Job Corps’ new Dental Assistant program, a rigorous 22-week lock-step program. Prior to the opening of the lab, CJCC students took classes at Bridge Valley Community and Technical College. The new dental assistant and pharmacy tech labs enable students to do all their classroom and lab training on center.

Kathy Roach, pharmacy tech instructor at BVCTC and CJCC, said students completing the programs will obtain national certification that opens up career possibilities for them anywhere in the nation.