By John Howell Sr.

Finch-Henry Job Corps Center (FHJCC) student Dedrick Blackburn got a promotion Monday.

He went to work at Panola Paper Company to perform the same tasks that he did there during October. The difference is that on Monday Blackburn returned as a newly-hired, full-time employee after completing four weeks of work-based learning there as a Job Corps Student.

Blackburn, a Pope native, is the latest in a string of FHJCC students who have worked for Bubba and Lisa Farrish at Panola Paper through its work-based learning program. The program places students in jobs with participating local businesses and industry at no cost to the employer. In return, the student gains hand-on experience in his or her career technical training area.

Blackburn enrolled in the center’s material handling and distribution operations training. At Panola Paper, Blackburn will be working in the warehouse, driving a truck making local deliveries, and loading and unloading, Bubba Farrish said at the firm’s office and warehouse in the W. M. Harmon Industrial Complex.

“We’ve kept Job Corps students for a couple of years,” Bubba Farrish said, using each work-based learning student for four weeks.

The completion of Blackburn’s four-week stint coincided with an older Panola Paper employee’s plans to cut back to part time, Farrish said. Plus, Blackburn had demonstrated the reliable work ethic that the Farrishes look for in employees, they said.

The 25-year-old enrolled at FHJCC three months ago, completed his skills training in less than the usual time, also earning a high school diploma, center Business/Community Liaison Roger Givens said.

Givens seeks local employers who can provide work-based learning in other areas, he said. They include bricklaying, carpentry, culinary arts, nurse assistant/home health aide, office assistant, painting, retail sales and welding in addition to materials handling. While the student is enrolled in work-based learning, he or she remains a federal employee covered by the appropriate insurances, according to Givens.
Blackburn is the son of Coya and Deborah Blackburn of Pope.