TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — At Pima JTED—the Joint Technical Education District, a new building should go a long way towards training students for AI resistant jobs.
Signing a steel beam to include in a building is a tradition to build into the building some of the heart, soul and dedication of the people who made it possible and will bring it to life. People lined up to sign a beam Friday to celebrate continued work on the Potoff Private Philanthropy Center for Technical Innovation.
The center will give JTED students working at the high school level, bigger and better facilities for advanced training in welding, modern construction, engineering, robotics and automation.
Russ Potoff’s philanthropy made it possible.
With the help of a vocational High School like JTED, he realized early on he had a special ability to use his mind—and his hands— to turn technical challenges into sophisticated hardware solutions
“The things that I did once I went into optical sciences, it's mind boggling, it really is. I had 18 grad students and I had scientists that I worked with from all over the world. Many of them didn't speak English, but there was never a single problem in me designing and building scientific hardware. I met the most amazing people from around the world.”
And that helped build the personal resources he could apply to the new building and other philanthropic work.
He says even with artificial intelligence and automation there is still a strong need for people who can do sophisticated work with human abilities.
“That's the thing. You're not going to get a robot to come in and clean out your drain. You're not going to find an electrician. All these are lost arts. The industry is clamoring. I keep watching videos of the downfall of the States in training new students. I mean, actually the deterioration of vocational schools, at least in this environment. The East Coast was just terrific with manufacturing for decades and decades and it just started to dwindle, and now there's, there's no manufacturing hardly anywhere in the United States. “
JTED says there is millions of dollars in lost potential when it doesn’t have enough space to accommodate all the students who want to learn these skills— but this new center will help ease that—and help propel students into strong careers.
