Purgatoire Valley Construction

National and international attention and recognition may soon be coming Trinidad's way. The city may soon be known as the place to get hands-on education for work in the oil and gas fields.

Trinidad State Junior College on Oct. 19 [2006] hosted API University President Lane Rubrecht along with gas companies and local contractors to discuss the possibility of locating a school at the TSJC campus.

According to Rubrecht, APIUniversity is the online education for training in the oil industry. The training entity is sponsored by American Petroleum Institute. While one of the API representatives, Jim Cozart, was online, he came across the TSJC Energy Production and Industrial Construction (EPIC) program. Cozart placed a call to the TSJC Assistant Dean for Industrial & Technical Education, Joe Ribaudo.

Cozart asked Ribaudo if he wanted to take any classes from API, he said he wasn't interested and asked what API was about and how those courses could improve their program. Ribaudo asked, "Where is your training facility located." Cozart replied, "We don't have one at this time." They started comparing courses and curriculum and how they matched up almost exactly. Cozart said he should talk to the president and other API officials and get back to Ribaudo.

Ribaudo and TSJC Dean Tom Scarlett began several conference calls with officials from API University, which led to Thursday's meeting. TSJC invited API representatives down for an advisory meeting to visit with them and area gas and construction companies. They are exploring the possibility of collaborating and partnering in delivering APIUniversity courses and to provide hands-on training for the courses they require.

"TSJC wants to provide the facility for them to train here and utilize the space and courses they have in place," according to Ribaudo. "We can make it a little more user friendly and closer proximity to where some of the workers live." He also added, "This is a sleeping giant that we need to provide training and a work force for, and it will support the community."

According to Ribaudo, "These workers are no longer called blue collar workers; they are called gold collar workers. They need to run a laptop and PDA to plug into a system. They have to be skilled and knowledgeable."

According to Rubrecht, the students can come in through online training and pre-assessments. After training, they will have post-tests and a hands-on validation component where you physically perform tasks in front of an API-qualified instructor at an API-qualified center. They would get a smart card with a credential so any employer could log in and validate employment. The goal is to create a standardized, world-wide recognized program so students could go anywhere.

"This is what API members are requesting," said Rubrecht. "We can't keep them in the classroom forever, retirement is about to become an issue and we need a new group coming in. In this environment, there are a lot of dangers and liabilities and you need to know what they can do, as far as job components and safety."

Rubrecht added, "We are going to try to set up five physical campuses and we are hoping this will be one of them. We are here today to get feedback from the members to see if they see value in this program and if they would support it. Obviously we will put one down in the Houston area; in pockets where these type of companies are and we will have some international ones."

According to Sandra Veltri, dean of Student Services at TSJC, "API is the standard for the industry. Just as Red Cross is the standard for CPR and Navtech is for the automotive industry."

When asked by the Times "How long is the program?" Veltri replied, "If you have no experience, you would enter the EPIC program. You have a choice between the certificate program which is nine months or the Associate of Applied Science, which is two years. At that point, the oil and gas companies would hire them and the company would pay for any further training, and there are many layers. Starting salaries for a student with an EPIC certificate are $15 to $25 an hour."

"Colorado Interstate Gas Company, who was in attendance, would prefer a graduate with an associate degree," said Scarlett. "Management needs those skills. Communication skills are important so that as they work their way up, they will need those skills. Technical requirements have changed and they need workers to be productive right away. The other core classes will strengthen the prospect." According to Veltri, high school students will have the possibility to enroll concurrently when they begin their junior year and their earned credits will be transferrable to other universities.

TSJC has 50 students currently enrolled in the EPIC program. She also believes some international students may come to TSJC. She said, "It's not just training for a job but preparing for opportunity."

Some $490,000 has already been raised from the gas companies and some of their contractors providing equipment, in-kind donations, teaching materials and software. He said, "The next step is that companies need to meet to figure what's available through API, then develop some of the courses they would need to have in their training program that they don't currently have assembled. It should take place relatively soon. It will be more negotiation of how to assemble the puzzle and make them fit." According to Veltri, "We wanted this to become a regional training center but it may become an international training center." Ribaudo said, "There is none like it in the United States or the world right now and if it happens, there is a good likelihood we would be the very first one."