In October, NTCA Five Star Contractor Visalia Ceramic Tile (VCT) was awarded the UpSkill Tulare County Award from the Tulare County Workforce Investment Board on behalf of the City of Visalia. In his con- gratulations letter to VCT, Vice Mayor Bob Link praised VCT for “being a quality employer in our community.” VCT was exemplary in imple- menting an apprenticeship program for its company and sharing its pro- cess with Thad Russell, Academic Dean, Technical Education and Workforce Development at the junior college, College of the Sequoias. Debbi Barton, Marketing Director and Payroll Manager for Visalia Ceramic Tile, said Russell had been concerned about the lack of apprenticeship programs in construction. VCT’s Sam Bruce shared with Russell the tile finish- er program VCT would be imple- menting – the online program from NTCA University. Once implemented, Russell was struck TRAINING & EDUCATION ––––––––––––– Visalia Ceramic Tile honored for contributing to community with apprenticeship training By Lesley Goddin 52 TileLetter | November 2018