Next year, MTC hopes to double the size of that program in Tift County and introduce it in Colquitt County.

“They were pulled out of the fire because of the school system being willing to think outside of the box,” Anderson said.

Of the four counties MTC serves, Colquitt County has had the highest dropout rate. More than 35 percent of county residents don’t have a high school diploma. Many of these residents are illiterate. MTC offers adult education to help adults obtain their general equivalency degree.

An overwhelming majority MTC’s adult education students can’t read or write at a high school level. Most of them are within the 16- to 18-year-old age group. They have a greater success rate at obtaining a GED. More than 100 of these students are probationers or incarcerated. A good number are English as a second language students.

“The difficulty with that group of students is that not only did they come to us not knowing English, but about half of them came in not being literate in Spanish. They can’t read or write Spanish, so we’ve got to teach them English when they can’t read or write Spanish. We’re going to do it. We have dedicated teachers,” Anderson said.

Last year, 147 students earned their GEDs in Colquitt County, she said.

MTC’s success with its Quick Start program continues. This program offers training, particularly for manufacturing jobs, to workers so they will be ready to go to work for a particular company. Eligible businesses can qualify for tax credits of $500 per person for upgrading skills, Anderson said.

“We hope more businesses in Colquitt County take advantage of it,” she said.

MTC is working with Valdosta Technical College in implementing the governor’s Work Ready program, essentially evaluating workers’ skills to match them to jobs. MTC fill those skill gaps through training, she said, in an effort to ultimately reduce job turnover in the community.

In the past five years, MTC has spent about $6 million in upgrades in classroom equipment, Anderson said. MTC is working, for instance, with local law enforcement to secure grants to bring in a $160,000 shooting simulator with a 300-degree range and a truck driving simulator for the Tifton campus.

“We’re so proud that we’re turning out students who have state-of-the-art equipment to work on and they’re doing a good job for you,” she said. “We want our instructors to be tough on our students. ... We want to turn out great students you can be proud of in your community.”