Renovations at the Warren County Airport recently completed with help from students in TCAT-McMinnville’s Residential, Commercial, and Industrial Electricity program.
RCIE Instructor Jess Nunez said the students completed a wiring project for the airport’s new maintenance building. Nunez said the project was a great opportunity for the students as they got to get hands-on experience.
“That’s something only time can give them,” Nunez said. “We can give them the knowledge of the code, which we do in the classroom, but once they get out on the field, that is the only place that they are going to be able to get the actual experience with their hands.”
Nunez said he was proud of his students for the work they did to support the local airport, calling the project a major accomplishment. He said the most rewarding part was seeing students apply what they had learned in the classroom to a real-world project.
“My biggest payoff was watching them see things they put together actually come to life when they turn that switch on,” Nunez said. “Even when there is an issue, and we work through it, I can see the expression on their faces like, ‘Oh, I get it.’ Those are the kinds of things that pay off for me.”
Nunez said he would like to see his class get more opportunities to do similar projects in the community. Nunez said the recent project speaks volumes to the high-quality program that TCAT-McMinnville offers.
” I’ve had students here that spend a very short period of time, and they come out, and I’ve had students before they even graduated, who had an established business already,” Nunez said. “So we kind of guide them through that process as well. So it’s endless. If they really, really want to, there’s no limit.”
Nunez said there is high demand for electricians in the Upper Cumberland region as many communities continue see constant construction.