Page 22 - SeptOct2021Vol33No3

EAST TENNESSEE By Lesli Bales-Sherrod
First Two Graduates Earn Water

Quality Technology Degrees

They’re 10 years apart, from different
cities and with different experiences – Brad Bales
but this summer they become Pellissippi
State Community College’s first two Water
Quality Technology graduates.
Brad Bales, 31, of Jefferson County,
Tenn., and Jaden Goodman, 21, of Scott
County, Tenn., are the first members
of Pellissippi State’s original Water
Quality Technology cohort to complete
the program, the only one of its kind in
Tennessee. They started the program in
a cohort with five other students in fall
2019, four of whom are still on track to
graduate in the next couple of semesters.
“Brad and Jaden have been
excellent students academically,
and this has been a really hard
semester for them, with three Water
Quality Technology classes, along with
whatever other courses they needed to Jaden Goodman
graduate, and a 20-page research paper
and a 30-minute oral presentation for
their capstone course,” said Program
Coordinator Cristina Carbajo. “It is very
impressive, considering all the obstacles
they’ve had to face due to the pandemic.
They both managed to adapt immediately.”
Cohort Students From Diverse
Backgrounds
Bales came to the program with more
than one degree in science, but no water or
wastewater treatment experience.
“Ever since I was a kid, I’ve liked the
idea of working in a lab,” he said. “I’ve
always been interested in the practical
sciences, and the quiet monotony of a lab is
enjoyable for more introverted people like
me.”
Goodman, on the other hand, came means excellent job security.” now as I was when we started it in 2019,”
to Pellissippi State only a year out from Training the Next Generation of Water Heidel said, noting he already has had two
high school, but already was familiar with operators retire and has another retiring in
the industry because his father works for and Wastewater Treatment Operators June.
Plateau Utility District in Wartburg, Tenn. That demand is also why industry Carbajo added that all the students
“Water Quality Technology is a very partners such as Drexel Heidel, in the first Water Quality Technology
good choice because the number of general manager of West Knox Utility cohort already have gotten jobs in
certified operators is dwindling as people District, wanted to partner with Pellissippi the industry, before they graduate
retire,” Goodman said. “Not only will this State to start a program to train the next from Pellissippi State.
field give me the opportunity to use on a generation of water and wastewater “That’s the name of the game: get people
daily basis the chemistry and engineering treatment operators. trained and then get them employed,”
skills that I enjoy, but that demand “I am still as excited about the program Heidel said.
22 TPW September/October 2021