During its February meeting, the board reCareer and Technical Education is celebrated nationwide during the month of February. The Washington County Career Center joined in the celebration by hosting an Annual Career Fair for the county’s sophomores. In addition, the Washington County Career Center Board of Education honored outstanding contributors to career and technical education as part of the celebration.cognized Jeff DeLong, Steve Hand and Amy Landis, for their substantial contributions to the technical education programs at the Career Center – High School and Adult Technical Education.
Jeff DeLong is a 30-year employee of DuPont in Washington, West Virginia. He is the Training Specialist for the plant and has held a variety of positions throughout his career including operator, mechanic, shift mechanic, and first-line supervisor.
DeLong began his plant career upon graduation from high school, working at Union Carbide/Elkem for five years as an operator. During that time, he decided to act upon his love of teaching and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Education and taught middle school for several years, before returning to the plant.
In the early 2000’s, Delong became actively involved with the Career Center, and was instrumental in implementing the Mid-Ohio Valley Maintenance Mechanic Group Council. Made up of maintenance professionals from industry in the Mid-Ohio Valley, the group works together to ensure that their training needs were being met. In 2015, he graduated from the Career Center – Adult Technical Training Instrumentation & Electricity Technician program and, in 2016, began instructing part-time for the Chemical Technician and Industrial Maintenance Mechanic programs.
DeLong believes in the hands-on training students receive at the Career Center and the concept of training on equipment used in local plants. He spearheaded the building of the Outdoor Industrial Training Facility at the Career Center, which is the first one of its kind in the area. His involvement included equipment donations and designing, while utilizing his students to actively participate in the fabrication of the facility. His active participation and involvement have led to one of the most interactive and realistic training experiences for the students in the Career Center’s industrial programs.
Human Resource Manager, Steve Hand, is a 30-year employee of Kraton in Belpre, Ohio. He has also worked as an operator and a first-line supervisor. Hand graduated from Warren High School in 1983 and attended Arundel Institute of Technology, in Baltimore, Maryland. He began his career as a maintenance technician at Nashua Photo from 1985-1989.
In 1989, Hand began working for Shell Chemical/Kraton as a packager. From there, he worked several other jobs including product handling, finishing and polymerization. During that time, he worked on several projects and participated on various committees throughout the plant. He eventually worked his way up to relief supervisor and then became a full-time supervisor. In 2014, Hand was promoted into Human Resources as a business partner. From that point, he became actively involved with the Career Center as an advisory committee member giving feedback on the Chemical Operator curriculum and participating in television and radio commercials for endorsement of the program.
Hand has donated time and equipment in building the Career Center’s outdoor training facility. In addition, he is an instructor for classes on Applications/Interview and Resumes to the Chemical Operator and Chemical Technician students. Along with other employees from Kraton, he currently is working with the Career Center – Adult Technical Training on using interactive modules in the Kraton I/E hiring process, believing in the Career Center’s approach to preparing the students for the industrial workforce.
Amy Landis is a graduate from Ohio University in Journalism, with a major concentrated on Advertising and minors in English and Marketing. Most of Landis’ advertising career has been spent in the print media, including over 15 years as an account executive with a local area print media company. She made her move to radio broadcast media by joining the Results Radio team in 2007. Her driving force is working closely with her clients daily, learning what their issues and goals are and creating campaigns that will achieve those goals.
Landis believes that working for a broadcast media company is the perfect platform to achieve her goals and do what she does best. She enjoys informing the community of what’s going on, whether it is product information, an event or an opportunity to better their lifestyle in a manner that is both entertaining and informative.
Landis has been the account executive for the Career Center – Adult Technical Training for the past 12 years. In that time, she has consistently gone above and beyond in her efforts to promote the Career Center and gain an understanding of the school. Results Radio gave back $103,759 in no-cost advertising to the community in 2019. A portion of those funds were used to promote events at the Career Center, including job fairs and informational sessions on financial aid. The Career Center is very appreciative of Landis’ efforts and feel fortunate to have her as a supporter of the career and technical education.
PHOTOS: Jeff DeLong, Steve Hand, Amy Landis