The Starke County Initiative for Lifelong Learning SCIL was honored by Northern Indiana Public Service Company at its fourth annual Luminary Awards at company headquarters in Merrillville, Indiana.  SCILL received the Luminary Award for Education.  The awards recognize leaders and organizations for their outstanding commitment to strengthening local communities.

The Luminary Awards were created in 2012 in celebration of the utility’s 100-year anniversary.  Recipients demonstrate outstanding commitment in five key areas: education, environmental stewardship, economic development, emergency response and community leadership.

The 2015 Education Award recipient was SCILL, recognized for its education programs which work to meet the needs of area industries, filling the training gap between students and careers in the fundamental fields of automotive and welding.

In 1996, Starke County Economic Development Foundation’s leadership formed SCILL from within the organization as an aggressive approach to attracting and retaining manufacturers.  Long before the term “skills gap” was widely used, Starke County was developing and nurturing relationships to fill current and future needs.

Almost 20 years after its start, SCILL remains committed to its vision of developing a well-trained workforce to which major area employers are assured access, and they continue to expand on their offerings to meet the needs of local and area industries, NIPSCO said of the award.

Currently, the automotive technology classes which serve the 10 schools in the North Central Area Vocational Cooperative (NCAVC) have a record enrollment of 71 high school juniors and seniors from 9 of the 10 NCAVC schools.  IN addition, the welding technology classes also have a record enrollment of 38 students from 6 of the 10 NCAVC schools. The adult welding program recently began its 10th class with an enrollment of 8 adults from 5 different counties.  This program has now graduated over 100 trained students over their three year history.