For Will Lee, like many other high school graduates, what he was going to do after leaving high school was a mystery.

Lee had taken Running Start courses while attending Libby High School, earning his Certified Nursing Assistant certificate at Flathead Valley Community College’s Lincoln County Campus.

From there, he went to Carroll College in Helena, looking to pursue a full degree in nursing.

“The stigma was you graduate high school, go to a four-year college, get a degree and go from there,” Lee said. 

He felt he may have rushed into a field. After a year at Carroll, Lee knew he was doing the wrong thing for him at that time.

His father, Cyrus Lee, supported his son’s decisions.

“He was not as interested in nursing as he thought,” he said. “So he came to Kalispell and to Flathead Valley Community College.”

Lee was commuting from Libby and staying with his grandmother who lived in Kalispell when he entered the occupational trades program, looking to become a heavy equipment operator.

He earned a certificate in applied science and began work almost before he had time to throw his mortar board at graduation.

“I was hired before graduation,” Lee said. “It was kind of cool to go out and work rather than sit in a classroom. It was a lot more hands-on. The skills I learned are in constant growing demand.”

An ability to switch careers so easily might not have been in Lee’s future if he didn’t have the three-semester program so readily available to him. 

His father was happy his son found good work so quickly in a rough economy.

“I’m really thrilled about that,” Cyrus said. “And with the quality of the instructors out there. These are not Ph.D guys, these are guys who put 30 years in paving roads, cutting mines, just doing the work in the field.”

Lee was so proud of his jump to the occupational programs that he couldn’t wait to show his dad the college’s fabrication shop. 

With the in-demand skills (not to mention what he saved in tuition) the Lee family owes a lot to the college.

“It made a huge difference to my family,” Cyrus said. 

The occupational trades program offers associate degrees, certificate and licensure in manufacturing, electrical technology, firearms technologies, heavy equipment operating, welding and several other fields. 

For more specific information on the programs, visit http://www.fvcc.edu/academics/academic-programs/occupational-trades.html or call the main office at Flathead Valley Community College at 756-3822.

Reporter Ryan Murray may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at [email protected].