Business View Magazine | September 2022

49 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 9 have that on our new facility as well.” Mid-State has strong ties to the manufacturing and agricultural industries of central Wisconsin. There are also significant bonds with local food manufacturing and food processing companies. That is the reason why they have a stainless steel only welding program. They have students that study stainless steel welding so that they can build the systems that get installed in the food processing plants. Students in the Mid-State apprenticeship programs already have full-time jobs, as that’s the apprenticeship model. The student is gainfully employed, sponsored by either a trade committee or an employer. Apprenticeships run between three and five years or 3000 to just over 10,000 hours. “That apprenticeship model works well for central Wisconsin players,” Kawski lays out, “because they’re guaranteeing themselves that worker. As we are all experiencing workforce MID-STATE TECHNI CAL COLLEGE shortages across the country, the apprenticeship model is very attractive.” Companies want to provide training for their employees so that they become skilled employees, but they still need them to work today. This model allows employers to have employees on the job 90% of the time and then they train at Mid-State for the other 10% of their time. On the degree side of things, Kawski shares that Mid-State Technical College technical diplomas range from one semester of work to one or two years. They also offer two-year associate degrees. “Many of our students are already employed full-time before they graduate from our programs,” Kawski beams. “We are very proud to say that well over 95% of the students in our programs are gainfully employed in their career field upon graduation. As a college, 87% of our students stay within our three county