Articles
ITT Students, Grads Optimistic About Shale Industry
Youngstown,
March 23, 2012
The Valley was once part of a booming rust belt, but since the steel mills started to close in the late 1970s, younger people have had to leave this area in search of jobs.
Now, that could all change with the Utica and Marcellus shale exploration.
WKBN
Published March 23, 2012 The Valley was once part of a booming rust belt, but since the steel mills started to close in the late 1970s, younger people have had to leave this area in search of jobs. Now, that could all change with the Utica and Marcellus shale exploration. Flynn Gaskill of Youngstown picked up his degree from ITT Tech earlier this year. Now, he's working for a local company doing graphic design work on electrical systems for the oil and gas industry. "Ran into all types and sorts of people looking for jobs, much more talented than myself to be honest, and I've been blessed and I'm very thankful," Gaskill said. Gaskill was one of a handful of current and former ITT students and instructors who met briefly Friday with Congressman Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, to talk about their jobs. Linda Bunnell of Warren said after years of working in local factories, she picked up training to land a job as a security guard for local drilling sites. "If it hadn't been for shale, I would have had to move and that's something I wouldn't have done. I would not have left my family or my grandchildren," Bunnell said. But for years, many area graduates were convinced they had to leave the Valley to find good-paying jobs. However, recent growth in the oil and gas industry, as well as manufacturing, is creating a change. "You don't have to go to Cleveland. You don't have to go to Pittsburgh. We can stay locally and be competitive in a technical-style industry, right in our own backyard," said Adam Davis of VEC, Inc. And if oil and shale growth can lift the overall economy, it gives hope to other students, even those in unrelated fields. "If things change around and there's more opportunity for myself, more openings for me to advance in my career, then I would definitely stay here," said Ryan Chambers of Warren. "That's our hopes. I'd like to raise my family here, have my kids grow up here just as I did. We'll see what happens," said Aaron Pangio of Struthers. |
