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Job Corps students get a pat on back

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett tours the Keystone Job Corps in Butler Township Wednesday. Talking with the governor are, from left, electrician students Marvin Manley, 20, Philadelphia; Celso Alicea, 20, Reading, and Dylan Gibbs, 21, Pittsburgh.

PETE G. WILCOX/THE TIMES LEADER

BUTLER TWP. – Brian Holevas stood eye to eye with Gov. Tom Corbett Wednesday and answered the questions.

Holevas, 19, of Baltimore, came to the Keystone Job Corps Center for the same reason as all of the students there – to get an education, learn a skill and make life better. “This place has dramatically turned my life around,” Holevas said. “I wouldn’t take my decision back for anything.”

Holevas said his friends and family were concerned about him when he was younger. He said he wasn’t getting in trouble, but was “slacking” when those who knew him realized he had potential.

“You can’t get anywhere in life being a slacker,” Holevas said.

Holevas will graduate from Keystone in June. He will have earned his general equivalency diploma and certification as a plumber’s assistant. He will continue his training after graduation and will seek employment.

Holevas and the other Keystone students fit into Corbett’s theme Wednesday. The governor spoke to the Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce before visiting Keystone and told an audience of 250 he was centered on education – reducing the percentage of high school dropouts, providing a quality education, and attracting jobs to the state to fit the needs and skills of the workforce.

Corbett said the dropout rate in many state high schools is 40 to 50 percent. He said the lack of education compounds other areas that take a big chunk of the state’s budget – welfare and corrections.

Improving education, Corbett said, includes improving the quality of teachers.

“We need to set our priorities straight,” he said. “First are our children, the students, then the teachers then parents.”

Corbett toured the Keystone site, visiting the culinary arts, certified nursing assistant and trade skills departments. Students of Keystone are building a new welcome center on campus and Corbett talked to several students at each stop to hear their stories. He said he came away impressed.

“The fact that they are here, voluntarily, is inspiration in itself,” Corbett said. “These young men and women have made a decision to be here and learn – to get an education and to be trained in a particular job skill. They are here to put their lives on the right track and to become productive citizens.”

Later Wednesday, Bill Patton, spokesman for the House Democratic Caucus, issued a written statement critical of Corbett’s cuts to basic education.

“Hearing Tom Corbett promote better access to job skills training is like Kim Kardashian endorsing marriage counseling,” Patton wrote. “The sad fact is the state’s unemployment rate has risen for four straight months since the Corbett budget cuts passed. More than 523,000 Pennsylvanians who want jobs cannot find jobs. Whatever the governor believes he is doing to create jobs, it’s not working.”