Huertas College offers free certified construction courses
By The Star Staff
Huertas College, the Caguas and central island region’s leading educational institution, is opening its doors to receive students interested in professional careers in the construction industry, with completely free courses.
Today, Huertas College invites citizens to participate in its Construction School Project.
“We are very enthusiastic to share this great news with the citizens of Caguas, the residents of the central zone, and the neighboring towns,” said María del Mar López, the strategic adviser and former president of the institution.
“Now we open a great door and together, we can work with the reconstruction of our homes, communities and towns,” she added. “Students have the opportunity to study, graduate, pursue a professional career and start a micro-enterprise in the construction industry, completely free of charge.”
Many people are surprised to learn that the courses are free, to which López responds, “Yes, of course, thanks to the Workforce Training Program initiative and the CDBG-DR [Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery] funds received through the Department of Housing of Puerto Rico, and the alliance we have with IBTS. The Institute for Building Technology and Safety (IBTS) is a nonprofit organization that deals with community resiliency projects. At Huertas we are associated with IBTS. As collaborators in this training project, IBTS supports us and provides its expertise in the field of construction, and its solid experience in working on infrastructure recovery projects in Puerto Rico.”
Through such a collaboration, Huertas College and IBTS are establishing themselves as leading agents of change for Puerto Rico.
Ivelys Rosa, the director of the Huertas College Training Center, added that: “This great opportunity makes us all happy. Especially since the Construction School is led entirely by women. And why is this important? Because we started and opened the way so that other women can study, become professionalized, and join the workforce, especially in times as difficult as now.”
Huertas College’s Construction School manages 11 specialized courses certified by the accrediting agency NCCER (created in 1996 as The National Center for Construction Education and Research). Among them are Project Management and Supervision, Masonry, Carpentry, Drywall, Photovoltaic Installation, Renewable Energy, Electricity and Refrigeration.
Enrollment is open and courses are about to start. Anyone interested can call (787) 905-7217 or (855) 990-2222 or write to the Construction School’s email (see below). For convenience, the registration process can be initiated online.
Visit https://escueladeconstruccion.com/ for course information and registration.
For more information about IBTS, visit https://www.ibts.org/.
For more information about the Workforce Training Program, visit https://cdbg-dr.pr.gov/capacitacion-laboral/.