New Community College of Philadelphia program prepares students for careers supporting Navy in shipyards and beyond

The Community College of Philadelphia is marking a major milestone. The college on Monday celebrated the first graduating class of a program designed to prepare workers for careers supporting the U.S. military.

Southwest Philadelphia native Donvail Wilson is the valedictorian of the college's new naval welding program. The program trains students to build and repair Navy ships and vessels, including submarines like the U.S.S. Columbia.

For Wilson, the journey to this moment started in a very different place. He spent more than 20 years working as a barber but decided to trade in his shears for a blowtorch to pursue new opportunities.

"The biggest parallel between being a barber and a welder is the steady hand and the attention to detail," Wilson said.

Those skills are in high demand as the Navy faces a growing workforce shortage.

"That shortage is growing because of the demand that we're placing upon industry," Joshua Sturgill, a maritime industrial base program analyst with the U.S. Department of the Navy, said. "We're increasing the amount of tonnage effectively that we are asking American manufacturing to produce."

To help meet that demand, the Navy said it invested $2.7 million to renovate the college's welding lab. The upgraded facility now includes 20 welding booths, which is up from eight.

"We were excited that they invested the money to help us with the build out, develop the curriculum and also support our students to get this training in four and a half months' time," Alycia Marshall, president of the Community College of Philadelphia, said.

The college also graduated its first group of students trained in nondestructive testing, a process that involves checking the strength of welded materials using chemicals, sound waves and other techniques.

Many graduates are already looking toward jobs at the Philadelphia shipyard. As for Wilson, he's thinking even bigger.

"The future is just a little brighter than it already was," he said. "And I plan to try to travel the world with the Navy and just build ships coast to coast."

The Community College of Philadelphia expects up to 75 students to graduate from its naval welding and nondestructive testing programs this year. The next group of students will begin training in April.