IMMOKALEE, Fla. — A technical college in Immokalee is on the cutting edge of a trending industry, and students going there are getting to cash in.
As Southwest Florida grows, so does the need for heavy equipment technicians.
Yes, if you were a kid or have a kid who loves the big yellow construction trucks, bulldozers, front-end loaders, you name it — these kids are growing up to work on these machines and keep them running for living.
"Everything is hands-on, and it prepares them for the real world," program instructor Stephen Bridges explained.
Bridges teaches the Heavy Equipment Services Technician program at Immokalee Technical College, or iTECH.
He works with 25 students five days a week in the classroom and in the lab.
Those break down, clean and put back together engines for semi-trucks, agriculture equipment and equipment that builds roads, buildings and homes.
See what Immokalee Community Correspondent Ella Rhoades saw as she spent a day with the young techs in class:
iTECH says 100 percent of the students that come out of this program have found jobs.
For a small area and a rural area like Immokalee, it's hard to get those kind of opportunities, so it's huge," said Bridges.
Each student lands a job at one of several companies that sponsor the program including Caterpillar and John Deer.
Talk about demand...Bridges said Caterpillar needs 44,000 technicians and John Deer needs 12,000.
Angel Vega Perez could be one of them soon.
"It'll help you a lot in the future, obviously, and that's what's going to make you successful. It's not just like something to do just because you wanna do it. It's like your future," Perez said.
The program costs $13,000.
However, The Immokalee Foundation, which helped start the program at iTECH, gives each student a scholarship that includes, tuition, tools and work boots.
She said, "A training that no one can take away from them," said Foundation CEO Noemi Perez. "Once they learn this, they have that knowledge you know for life."
