Glen Raven & VGCC Team Up To Create Educational Opportunities
One employee uses the learning center at Glen Raven Mills at Norlina to keep up with her children. Others are working on their G.E.D high school equivalency diplomas. Some are preparing themselves for greater responsibilities and better jobs in the company.
Glen Raven and Vance-Granville Community College have teamed up to develop the learning center, and the textile company even pays its employees to use it. In addition, they encourage employees to bring their children to the center to learn with them.
The learning center has been in the Norlina plant four years, and Sue Grissom, VGCC’s director of workplace literacy, said the partnership between the mill and the college has been a rewarding one. “Glen Raven is a great company that really cares about its employees, and it gives them every opportunity to learn,” Grissom said.
Sharon Carlson, VGCC’s instructor in the Glen Raven lab, said the company has been very supportive in providing space and equipment, but most of all encouragement to its people to use the facility. This is demonstrated in the company’s paying employees to come to classes when they are not working regular shifts.
There are three levels of study in the learning center. They are G.E.D. preparation – a person must pass tests on math, science, social studies, reading and writing to earn the diploma; basic skills improvement – brushing up on a variety of skills using books and computers; and computer courses – the latest word processing and other programs available on a self-study basis.
“We test interested employees for their level of (educational) functioning and then set goals for them, such as learning to read for some, earning a G.E.D. for others or enhancing their learning for others,” said Carlson, who lives on a farm in the Inez community.
Employees who earn their G.E.D.’s have a plaque with their name engraved on it mounted on the learning center wall.
Employees signed up for the classes are expected to attend twice a week. To make this easier, they may even bring in their children two evenings a week to read books, play games, learn phonics, do school work and work on projects on the computers. Ann Stainback, the evening instructor, plans special events for the families, such as visits to the Haliwa-Saponi Pow-Wow and to the North Carolina Zoo.
Glen Raven calls its education program L.E.A.D. – Learning, Education and Development. In addition to the adult basic education and skills training conducted by Vance-Granville Community College, there are other areas of study such as technical skills, safety, business administration and professional development which help prepare Glen Raven employees for promotions and greater responsibilities. Classes are available to help deal with stress, managing time more effectively, solving problems and communicating with others.
Todd Wemyss, Glen Raven plant manager, believes the learning center has helped his workforce cope with new machinery which was installed in the plant a couple of years ago. “Before, the machines were more mechanical in operation, but the new ones are more automated, are computer-run and there’s a lot more interaction between our people and the machinery,” he said. “They need to feed more information into the machines.
“Skills they acquire in reading and working with computers so they don’t fear them are helpful in operating the equipment,” he said.
Wemyss said when the new Italian-made machines were installed, he was told the Norlina plant would never be able to operate them with the people it had. “But our people have educated themselves, they have become more confident and assertive, and we’re doing just fine,” he said.
On Wednesday, June 10, Kelly Wright of WRAL-TV 5 visited the Norlina plant to do a story on the learning center and Glen Raven’s commitment to helping its employees expand their learning. Among students he talked to was Patricia Plummer of Ridgeway, a high school graduate who said she uses the center to “freshen up” her math skills and to develop computer skills “so I can keep up with my children.”
During the TV visit, Herman Sabrowski of Norlina was using a computer to publish the plant’s employee newsletter, a project learning center students began. Sabrowski earned his G.E.D. through the lab and currently uses it to improve his writing and computer skills.
“Being paid while working on my G.E.D. was a big bonus, gave me a good feeling toward the company and gives me a commitment to them,” he said. “Personally, it has made me feel better about myself and more confident I can achieve my goals.”
Samuel Champion of Middleburg said he was taken out of school to work on the farm when he was a teen-ager. Now 58, he is trying to earn his G.E.D. “My experience in this program convinces me the sky’s the limit if you put your mind to it,” he said.
Doris Israel of Manson is the only one of her family of 13 who didn’t finish high school. “I dropped out in the 10th grade because I was hardheaded,” she said. Today, she is the only woman at Glen Raven working on her G.E.D. and has already passed the math portion.
Grissom and Carlson both bubble when discussing the learning center, Glen Raven’s commitment to it and the zeal of the employees who are hitting the books after so many years away from the classroom. About 80 employees have participated in the VGCC-offered instruction since the program began, and 30 are enrolled today.
In the top photo above, Sharon Carlson, left, Vance-Granville Community College instructor in the Glen Raven Mills learning center at Norlina, helps Mary Bullock of Manson as she brushes up on her math skills in the center. In the bottom photo, Kelly Wright of WRAL-TV 5, left, interviews Samuel Champion of Middleburg as Champion and co-workers at Glen Raven Mills study in the plant’s learning center.
