Flooring Futures Launched

Tri-County Career Center partners with flooring professionals for new industry-certified program

Learning to lay down flooring is not just learning to lay down flooring. It’s potentially laying a foundation for a future; a future that is not far away with Tri-County Career Center High School and Adult Education in Nelsonville.

Tri-County has already offered two sessions of Introduction to Flooring, a professional floor-covering course created by Mark Farnsworth, the president of Professional Floorcovering Training. The school now has plans to offer the program to adults this summer.

After five days of of extensive, handson training from industry experts, students come away with a residential and commercial carpet certificate.

“It was amazing,” said Hunter Rutter, a 16-year-old student in Tri-County’s Construction Trades program. “I think we learned a lot. I was actually able to lay carpet this weekend just learning off that one week.”

Tri-County and the industry professionals brought in by Professional Floorcovering Training first worked with the STAR Community Justice Center in Nelsonville to help rehabilitated individuals gain professional skills to help their reentry into society. After a successful cohort, the program was administered to Rutter and his classmates at Tri-County.

“I really enjoyed it. The instructors were really great. They obviously knew what they were doing and it was just fun,” said John Milam, 16. “We were intrigued and wanted to know the next thing that came out of their mouth, you wanted to know what it was going to be, what they were going to say, what information they were going to give you.”

Farnsworth grew up in the flooring industry, developed his expertise, and went on to create the first industry manual on flooring. His book — which every student receives — became the written word for the course to complement the knowledge delivered by flooring specialists. He said he noticed a need for younger, trained employees to enter the field.

“On day one, we bring in an industry expert who gets the material into their (students’) hands,” Farnsworth said. “You can talk about it, but once it’s in your hands and you flip it and you can see what she’s talking about in the construction and break it apart with your fingers, it tells the whole story.”

After the first day, students are knowledgeable enough about the product to enter the sales field if they wish. From there, master installers from across the country work with students to teach all the basics of flooring and, on the last day, professional soft skills and resume building.

“Our goal is to put a bunch of them out there as the beginner’s courses will let you work during the summer or after school or on the side to find out if you really like my trade,” Farnsworth said.

After the week-long training, students receive their certification and are able to continue further education in the field through a six-week advanced course, also offered through Tri-County.

“They love it. They crushed it,” Adult Center Director Emily Boyer said of the students. “I think this is huge. There’s such a need for these skills. There’s an extreme shortage in the field and this is a good skill for them where they can even work on their own if they want.”

Farnsworth and Boyer both said skilled floorers can find work in any area of the country. “Everywhere needs floors,” Farnsworth said.

A summer course is planned in conjunction with Hocking College. Tri-County offers financial assistance for those who qualify for the program. Pricing, dates of the program, and additional information can be found at www.adult.tricounty.cc or by calling 740-753-5464 or 800-637-6508.