By Marilyn Odendahl, Truth Staff
modendahl@etruth.com
GOSHEN -- Trying to install the CD player into his computer, Cornelio Castillo sliced the back of his hand on a sharp metal edge.
It was not the first cut of the afternoon. Others in the class had been getting nicked as they unboxed and unwrapped the electronic components but with the dark red blood welling up and oozing onto his hand, Castillo's injury was the most serious.
"If I had known this many people were going to get cut, I would have brought super glue," said classmate Paul Nelson.
Perhaps a different set of students would have been distracted by the wounds and stopped their tasks to get a closer look, to learn what happened. However, the nine men in the classroom had worked in the recreational vehicle industry, where cuts are part of the job and super glue is considered better than stitches.
Consequently, Castillo calmly walked over to his instructor to get a bandage and the others continued laboring over their assignment and tossing off one-liners.
The nine, a portion of the thousands of RV employees who lost their jobs in 2008, are trying to change their lives by preparing for a new career in IT rather than waiting for their old jobs to return. With the help of state and federal grant money made available for retraining laid-off RV workers, they have enrolled in an intensive computer course at MapleTraining on Wilden Avenue.
"We have never had such a large group of motivated people," said Beth Snow, vice president of operations, human resources and training at MapleTronics Computers, sister company to MapleTraining. The displaced RV workers who come for training are "here every day. The caliber of people we have has been phenomenal."
Thursday afternoon, after spending nearly a month learning what each component does, the group got to assemble their own computers. On their feet and hunched over their desks, the nine, many of whom have computer experience, carefully screwed and snapped the parts into place while listening to their instructor, Scott Leeper, and conferring with each other.
For Greg Swanson, the thought of entering a classroom 35 years after he graduated from high school caused a little panic. He had spent most of his career selling phone service, cars and RVs and whenever he got laid off in the past, another job had always turned up. But this time, the offers were not coming and, for the first time since 1974, he is having to draw unemployment benefits.
"There just isn't anything out there," he explained. "I've got to do something different."
Thursday's assembling was steadily progressing until the time came to plug some of the cables into the motherboard. Then the large hands trying to put small pieces into cramped spaces slowed the work considerably.
"You guys ain't making piece rate," Leeper said, referring to manufacturing system of paying workers based on the number of units they complete in a day.
Holding up the tiny components, Nelson exhibited his 16 years of production experience by pointing out that if the individual parts were made into one unit, the nine would have finished the job 15 minutes sooner.
Nelson and his classmate, David Glick, had grown tired of their jobs. Glick said his previous job had become mundane and Nelson said the best day of the week was Friday but neither had thought about making the radical career switch that their lay-offs are forcing upon them. Still the class is keeping them optimistic about their futures.
"I think it can help me make a transition from just being someone who runs power tools into an office worker," Nelson said. "It's increasing my knowledge."
The youngest in the class, 22-year-old James Bontrager, was not planning to work long in the RV plant but he wanted to make enough money to buy a house for himself and his new wife. Although the lay-off hampered those plans, Bontrager is happy to be able to take the class and learn about computers.
"We're just trusting in the Lord to provide," he said. "He has so far. This grant was a blessing."
Two hours and 40 minutes after class had begun, the assembly was finished and the computers were ready to be plugged in and turned on. Once the monitors indicated the system was working properly, the nine unplugged their units and put them back into the boxes. Tuesday they will be back in class installing the operating systems and memorizing more terminology.
Castillo will be seated at his desk when class is in session again. Holding up his hand swaddled in white gauze, he smiled, "Now I've got computers in my blood."