Skilled to Work: Apprenticeship program at NEMCC helps student get full-time job

In this week’s Skilled to Work, we learned more about the Tiger Apprenticeship Program and how students can get on-the-job training while they are still in school.

In this week's skilled to work wtva's sydney darden spoke with a design engineer about how he was able to fast track his way into his first job and still learn all the skills along the way.

Nats "this is another heavy feeder that i worked on."

For jon-michael jackson, his imagination and math skills lead him to become as a design engineer.

Sot jon- michael jackson, designer engineer, syntron- "it's the best thing you can do."

But he says it was the tiger apprenticeship program at syntron that gave him the skills he needed for his first job.

Sot jon- michael jackson- "i recommend it to everybody."

The program created by syntron and northeast mississippi community college is a win-win both the company and the student.

Sot- mary lemons, human resource director, syntron- "the employer benefits by being able to train the employer on site for a two-year time period until they finish their degree.

And then has the opportunity to hire them once they finish their degree."

An opportunity jackson took full advantage of.

He's started working for syntron full time after graduation.

Thanks to the program he's was able to hity the ground running.

Sot jon- michael jackson - "it's just better to know what you're working on hands- on here."

Jackson's designs have already been put to use at multiple companies around the city.

A feeling he says is hard to describe.

Sot jon- michael jackson- "it was really fun being able to see my designs put to good use."

If you are interested in joining the program next year, we will post a link with more information on the wtva website... right now,, mississippi doesn't have a state flag --- it will be up to a commission to come up with the design