Beginning this fall, a new class at Hillyard Technical Center will offer a Manufacturing Technician Certificate. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Patt Lilly says the program will train students for positions that local manufacturers have trouble filling.

“I would suspect, knowing what I know of our current situation in Saint Joe, that the kids coming out of high school with this Manufacturing Technician Certificate will find a job easily and I would suspect a pretty well-paying job,” Lilly said.

Lilly says the first two-semester class starting this fall will train 15 to 20 students, but the program could easily expand in the future.

Lilly says the Saint Joseph School District, Missouri Western, and Innovation Stockyard worked together to create the program. It will use a curriculum that is already working well in Virginia.