A matter of degrees | Verso offers scholarships to train younger workers
Verso Paper Corp. in Jay has started a new scholarship program to try to create more qualified workers for its pulp and paper mills and fill its ranks with younger employees.
Verso’s Androscoggin Mill will give 10 full-tuition scholarships to students who graduate from Jay or Livermore Falls High Schools and enroll in Kennebec Valley Community College’s two-year paper-making program.
In return, the students must agree to work as full-time Verso employees for at least three years after they earn their associate’s degree. The mill will also employ them during the summers before hiring them full time.
“Studies have shown that students graduating with an associate’s degree in pulp and paper technology were better prepared for the manufacturing environment and had an immediate impact on safety, operating efficiency and bottom-line results,” says Mike Luciano, the mill’s human resources manager, in a press release. “We are lagging behind our overseas competition in this strategic initiative and we need to scramble to further educate our current work force and grow our future work force.”
Verso is also trying to expand the scholarship opportunity to other regional high schools. The town of Bucksport recently used tax increment financing funds to pay Eastern Maine Community College $4,300 to develop a course to prepare residents for work in the Verso mill in town, the Bangor Daily News reported.
The work force at Bucksport’s mill, which has dwindled over the past decade, is also aging, and the company must look for younger workers to replace those who retire in the coming years.
“As the baby boomers continue to retire at an increasing rate, the knowledge gained from decades of working and on-the-job training passed down through generations is being lost,” Luciano says. “We need to quickly replace that knowledge with a future work force that combines the work ethic of the past with a technical education in the pulp and paper process.”
Rebecca Goldfine
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