Four Wayne Community College employees have been selected to present at a state educational conference.

The academic staff members are discussing two of WCC’s distinguished programs during the North Carolina Community College System Conference, which is being held virtually from February 1 through March 12.

The college’s Quest Academy is the subject of a live session led by Transitional Programs for College and Career Director Lynn Rabhan, English Language Acquisition Coordinator Maria Abalo-Zarate, and Computer-Based Learning Coordinator Damian Perna.

Quest Academy guides higher-level English Language Acquisition students to certifications or and academic skills, then helps them transition to either Workforce Continuing Education or college-credit programs and finally on to a career.

The program was a finalist for a 2020 Bellwether Award, a national recognition of outstanding and innovative community college programs and practices.

Ernie White, dean of WCC’s Applied Technologies Division, will join Brian Burgess, Carolina Training Associates teaching products sales representative, and Lisa Marshall, NC3 (National Coalition of Certification Centers) program manager for the NC3/Festo partnership, for two live presentations titled “Festo Didactic: NC3 Industry 4.0 Certification Program.”

The group will discuss the pathway for students seeking to become proficient in “Industry 4.0” concepts that has been created by Festo Didactic, a leading provider of equipment and solutions for technical education, through its partnership with NC3. The two furnish a third-party credential system that allows students to take tests for credentials that are stackable in both horizontal and vertical directions, at no cost to students.

White, Burgess, and Marshall will describe how NC3, together with program administrators and industry representatives, worked to provide NC3 member institutions with recommendations on ideal educational workspaces, with the goal of modernizing training centers to attract and produce the highest caliber of student.

Wayne Community College is a NC3 Leadership School and offers students opportunities to earn NC3 industry certifications. Students in the college’s Applied Technology programs train on Festo automation equipment and may earn credentials designed by Festo as well as other NC3 industry partners.