This past Monday at 5:00 p.m., Jal High School hosted the grand opening of the new Oil & Gas Building, the culmination of a several-year planning and construction process. The Oil & Gas Prep Program at JHS is designed to eventually offer a four-year training program for high school students interested in pursuing careers in the oil & gas industry. The curriculum is set through the Permian Basin Oil Curriculum, according to Superintendent Brian Snider.
The new Oil & Gas Building at 203 E. Panther Ave., was formerly the Activity Bus Barn. Construction of the classroom and lab took about 10 months, according to Snider. Activity bus storage had been relocated to the bus barn across from the Panther Gym as well as a new bus port adjacent to the administration building on Utah Ave. Snider says the newly completed Oil & Gas Building was paid for completely out of the school district’s operational funds, with no additional grant funding necessary. Grants will likely be sought by the district in the future in order to fund future development of the program, Snider says.
School board members present at the Grand Opening were Mrs. Jaime Earp, Mrs. Amy Crawford, Mr. Randy Chavez, and Mr. Jim Gooss. Also present were students and staff members of JHS, parents, as well as interested members of the public. The JHS Culinary Department prepared numerous delicious appetizers for the occasion.
A committee of industry partners was formed by the school district to help gather insight into what our more local oil & gas companies were looking for in new employees. This committee includes industry partners such as Coterra, Conoco-Phillips, Devon Energy, Mewbourne Oil, Clay Treadaway and Rachael Overbey formerly of Franklin Mountain. Mrs. Laura Parsons is the instructor for the JHS Oil & Gas Program. Presently, Parsons has two classes with a total of 15 students. The plan is to eventually add more courses, building the program up to a four-year program with eight classes each school day. Parsons says the new program is an exciting development for Jal High School.
At the Grand Opening Ceremony, Mr. Nathan Richard, Director of the Career Technical Education Program for Jal High School, thanked Mr. Snider for having the vision to start the program, the school board for approving the funding, Parkhill & Associates for the engineering and design of the building, and for Lasco Construction for completing the project. He thanked the industry partners for helping give direction to the program to better prepare students for the workforce in the oil & gas industry.
