For the first time in 15 years, the Delta Career Advancement Center will not offer its annual heavy-equipment training academy because of concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Career Center is closed until further notice, in compliance with the governor’s mandate for closing Alaska’s public schools as a precaution to reduce the chances of spreading the novel coronoavirus.
Center executive director Tawnia Butorac says “We regret we won’t be able to offer our annual showcase of talented individuals showing off the skills they learned at the academy,” Butorac said. “But we just can’t hold the event this year, because of all the disruption caused by actions taken to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus.”
Butorac says she and the rest of the Career Center staff will begin work soon on planning for the 2021 academy.
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The annual academy provides students with an intensive three-week training for operating different types of heavy equipment. Students who successfully complete training are given certificates in an awards ceremony on the academy’s final day. The program and other summer academies have enabled students from all around Alaska to be placed with apprenticeship programs, and many others have been hired by local and state construction-related businesses.
For more information, contact: Stacy Petersen, Delta Career Advancement Center assistant coordinator, spetersen@alaska.edu
The Delta Career Advancement Center opened in January 2005 and became the home for Delta Junction High School’s Construction Trades program. In 2008, the Alaska Legislature designated it a Regional Training Center. The Center is operated by Partners for Progress in Delta, an educational consortium that includes Delta-Greely School District, UAF Community and Technical College, Cooperative Extension Service and Alaska Works Partnership.
