Congressman Benishek visits Gwinn skills center

Representative Dan Benishek visited the Midwest Skills Development Center today and toured the facility with the advisory board.

The M.S.D.C. trains men and women in trade skills and offers programs like Electrical Line Technician training. Benishek spoke with recent graduates from that program and offered up his take on the importance of such skills and education.

Representative Benishek said, “There are a lot of jobs here that we can promote with the right education and facilities like this that teach our young people a skill that can get them a good paying, family raising job in northern Michigan. It’s what I’m trying to help promote and advertise and I’m hoping that maybe a student out there will see this and be encouraged to come and here and learn how to get a good paying job.”

Benishek also talked about how vocation education has become less prominent over the past couple of decades and legislation like the Student Success Act that he and others have supported to bring trade skills back into the picture.

“Education in Marquette County is different than education in Ft. Lauderdale,” the congressman said, “so why should the feds dictate the same process for those two areas? I think that the local school districts should have some say in the electives that our students are allowed to take.”

One of Benishek’s major motivators for supporting facilities like the M.S.D.C. is building and keeping a job force here in northern Michigan.