By Mary Meaux

The News staff writer

Kay Hicks took the advice of a commercial and the rest is history.

An employee with Beacon Inc., Hicks is a graduate of the City of Port Arthur Construction Job Training Program.

The group was recognized for their achievements at Tuesday’s city council meeting.

Hicks had her first taste of the refinery business while working at Goodyear Chemical in college. She would later work at FedEx, earn a bachelor’s degree and become a teacher.

But none of the later work gave Hicks a real sense of fulfillment until she began working at a local refinery through Becon.

“I love it,” she said. “This proves to everybody, minorities and females, that they (companies) mean it. There are job openings.”

City council recognized the program’s fourth graduating class of 2007 on Tuesday. They include: Tracey Berry, Marcus Dailey, Neftali Garcia, Gerald Jeanmard, Jasmine Lewis, Kimberly Sam, Shemeka Celestine, Monique Glover, Randy Goudeau, DeWanda Kelle, Jonathan Lewis, Tami Thomas, Vanessa Como, Taralyn Ellis, Tommy Guidry, Anitra Lavalais and Kayla Reed.

The program began with a grant to the city from the National Institute of Environmental Health Services and Chicago based OAI Inc. in February 2006, Coordinator Doris Gill said. The Brownfields Committee submitted the grant for the city in hopes of securing job training for residents needing employment skills after Hurricane Rita. They were funded by OAI and the program trained students during the summer of 2006. Of those students, 50 graduated and 35 secured employment.

“In 2007, we applied for an additional grant to continue the construction training. Under our current 2007 grant with NIEHS and OAI, we have trained 60 local residents,” Gill said. “So far 25 have found employment. This is awesome. We also received funding for job training from the Port Arthur Economic Development Corporation and the Texas Workforce Center during this funding year.”

Gill said the free job training program is accepting students for the next eight week course. Students will receive industrial and labor training in National Center for Construction Education Research Core Curriculum Construction skills (computer based program developed by Lamar State College-Port Arthur for upcoming refinery expansion), power hand tools, hand tools, rigging, blueprints, employability, Basic Plus Training, fire guard, scaffolding and more.

Classes begin Aug. 27 and applicants must be 18 years or older. There are three class times available and classes are three days per week at LSCPA.

As an incentive, graduates of the program will receive a $200 bonus.

The program is sponsored by the city of Port Arthur PAEDC, LSCPA, ISTC, TWC, Beacon and Port Arthur Brownfields Program and is funded by NIEHS/OAI Inc., PAEDC, TWC and the city.

Applications are available at Texas Workforce Center and Port Arthur City Hall. Deadline for applications is Aug. 6. For more information on the program, call 962-1236 ext. 242.