“ Our goal has always been to support the local economies within our 11-county service area ,” shares OFTC President , Erica Harden , “ and our emphasis on meeting needs within the transportation industries and through mine safety training is one of the ways we support that mission .”

Meeting Industry Needs

In the 1990s , commercial truck driving was the first instructional program offered at the college and two of the county ’ s largest industries were trucking companies — B-H Transfer and Howard Sheppard . Those companies still exist today and OFTC continues to produce graduates to meet the companies ’ growth .

Within the last ten years , OFTC has produced more than 1,000 commercial truck driving graduates with a 92 % in-field placement rate .

As the state of Georgia ’ s grant awardee for the U . S . Department

of Labor Mine Safety Health Administration ( MSHA ) Grant , the college ’ s department of Economic Development has been involved in MSHA training courses for more than 20 years thanks to the college ’ s proximity to mineable kaolin deposits which are found in a narrow belt along the Fall Line , resulting in the Kaolin mining industries locating their processing facilities to the communities OFTC serves .

More than 2,000 miners are trained each year on OFTC ’ s campuses or at company sites , and classes are taught in an

open enrollment format or can be customized to meet a company ’ s specific training needs . Training A Workforce While these industries continue to prosper within the state and throughout the nation , the need for skilled workers and training is great .

“ Today more than ever , the need for trained commercial truck drivers is crucial , and everyone is seeing the impact of driver shortages in the supply chain ,” shares Charles Tarbutton , president of B-H Transfer . “ Oconee Fall Line Technical College has partnered

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