Electromechanical Training

California program provides example of interest in trades

Bakersfield College will become just the fifth institution in the United States, and the only one near the West Coast, to offer a certification program teaching apprentices at Amazon to become electromechanical technicians.

The program is a three-organization partnership in that the e-commerce giant will contract with BC to train the company's employees and employees of The Wonderful Co. will be hired by the college for the purpose of supporting the training. The training itself is planned to take place at The Wonderful Career Center in Shafter.

The company's Reliability and Maintenance Engineering program is being funded by a $1.37 million contribution from the Bakersfield College Foundation's donor-funded Innovation Fund, which will pay for the initiative's training equipment.