Business andnd education in Gaston County have been going to school together for generations. Consider a textile technology center that teaches not only young men and women bound for industry careers, but bankers and customs agents.

There's a community college changing as fast as the needs of its students, who today could be dropouts returning for high-school diplomas, Mexicans learning — in Spanish — to operate forklifts, or adults honing customized skills needed by new and expanding industry.

Then there's the upstart. In August, a technology high school opened with a waiting list of students for programs that will combine rigorous secondary education with majors, just like in college, in computer engineering, health care, manufacturing, technology and similar fields.

“This is not my father's vocational education,” says David Baldaia, principal of the $13 million-plus Highland Technology High School, Gaston's first advanced-placement, magnet school. Highland received $790,000 from local, mostly business foundations, plus a special $1 million state appropriation.

Emphasis is on preparing students to continue education after graduation, but they'll also be equipped to enter the technology workforce directly. “We're religiously committed to academics and technology focused on solving the world's latest problems,” says Baldaia. That includes a new look at teaching.

“If you continue to do what you've always done, you'll get what you've got,” he quips, explaining that the 25 faculty members will be on unusual, 11-month contracts to give them an extra month for professional development. “We can't expect teachers to teach with yesterday's technology.”

The N.C. Center for Applied Textile Technology in Belmont and Gaston College in Dallas have been around longer, but bring similar innovations.

The textile center, notes Dr. James Lemons, president, was established in 1941 after, among other things, local textile makers raised $100,000 and donated 40 acres to the state to get it going. “It became,” he adds, “the first post-secondary technical education institution in the state, predating even community colleges.”

Its uniqueness continues. A member of the community college system, it offers continuing education, business support services and technical assistance to businesses. But its scope is unusually broad.

“We also train people who service the industry,” says Lemons. “We've had bankers from Wachovia, First Union, Bank of America and others. If you're banking in the Southeast, you've just about got to know textiles.”

Others have included U.S. Customs Bureau agents who, for example, must know the difference between woven or knitted fabrics, fiber content and textile machines, in order to enforce trade agreements. A major contract now is with the Canadian government, to train its community college educators to offer textile-related courses.

The center gets down to business in other ways. On its campus not far from the Catawba River in Belmont, business support faculty offer such services as product testing and development for companies too small to do their own. Despite giants such as Pharr Yarns and American & Efird that employ 2,000 or more, the average Gaston company has 80 workers.

“Sometimes,” adds Lemons, “we also work as a broker for small companies to help them find their niche. A big manufacturer might have a novelty-type yarn that might not be worth its time, but can be profitable for a smaller company.”

And, the center offers technical assistance — consulting — to all sizes of manufacturers, including many not in textiles at all. One of 53 current clients is a pork processor, and a recent continuing education class of 20 high school business teachers — the center has about 3,400 students in all — were learning to teach electronic commerce.

For Gaston College, a new Computer Training Institute has catapulted it into the ranks of the region's largest computer instruction program.

“We've set it up through our division of continuing education to specifically meet the needs of business and industry,” explains Dr. John Reid, vice president for academic affairs. “That includes developing a portable computer lab since there's significant demand for training on site.”

The lab, adds Dr. Linda Greer, dean of continuing education, can be set up at a company's location in less than hour, or classes can be structured at either the college's Dallas campus or in Lincolnton. The college serves both Gaston and Lincoln counties. And, the core of the program remains customized training in such software applications as Microsoft Office or Powerpoint.

Programs go far beyond computers. Life Skills training awards more high school diplomas than any conventional Gaston high school each year. “We get the people for whom the conventional schools haven't worked and give them a second chance,” says Reid.

Other programs are down to earth. A recent forklift class in Spanish was filled with 30 students and had a waiting list. And some programs go up in smoke. Over and over.

The college's Regional Emergency Services Training Center on the Dallas campus features a five-story building that resembles a nuclear reactor. In it, firefighters from across the state learn to battle real fires, while other features of the campus let them practice emergency driving and fighting gasoline and other types of blazes.

And, like all Tar Heel community colleges, Gaston College is known for its customized training, tailored specifically to the needs of new and expanding industries.

When Buckeye Technologies Inc. located a $100 million nonwoven materials plant in Gaston County in 1999 — the largest plant of its kind in the world and the county's largest industrial project in history — such factors as climate, transportation access and energy were considered. But the clincher was highly specialized training in such skills as continuous process operations, computer manufacturing and math, through Gaston College.

“You need a hybrid of engineering assistant and mechanic,” says Sondra Dowdell, a Buckeye engineer and public affairs director, adding that down time for the plant's $70 million in equipment would be disastrous. “The college just met us with open arms when we told them what we needed.”

— Edward Martin