On Dec. 23, 2008, the General Motors Assembly Plant in Moraine closed its doors for good.
At the time of the closing, more than 2,000 employees were shown the door. More than a year later, Sinclair Community College has served as a gateway to new careers for the Moraine plant’s displaced workers.
Back to school
Lonnie Campbell never thought he would become the college student he is today.
Campbell, a 39-year-old Nursing major, enrolled for winter classes at Sinclair in 2007 after finding out his stable and well-paying job of 15 years at the GM-Moraine plant wasn’t going to last much longer.
“I figured I’d probably be a lifer after I got to that 10-year mark,” he said.
Campbell first started at GM in June 1994 as a lineworker before transitioning to a group leader toward the end of his time with the company. Campbell admits his salary was strong, but it didn’t buy him happiness.
“The benefits and the money was good, so it was kind of like they had you locked in,” he said. “It was hard to turn away something like that even if I wasn’t happy with what I was doing.
“I’ve always had a drive to help people and to go into the medical field,” Campbell said.
Campbell was an Emergency Medical Technician for nine years and a firefighter for six years. After Campbell took a $140,000 buy-out from GM, he and his wife decided to pay off their debt and concentrate on the future. Campbell, who began the Nursing program last quarter, said it’s tough at times to shuffle family and school, while working on a tighter than normal budget.
“That’s been my biggest thing is trying to juggle finances … With the economy the way it is, it’s been really tough,” Campbell said.
For Campbell and fellow displaced workers, Sinclair offers financial aid through a number of scholarships and funding including the Walmart Brighter Futurers Scholarship, Displaced Industrial Worker Scholarship, WIA Funding for Displaced Workers and TAA Funding for Displaced Workers. Campbell said Sinclair offers plenty of financial aid to displaced workers, but it’s not always easy to access the resources.
“At Sinclair, I found out, sometimes getting the information is very difficult,” he said. “There’s been a lot of stuff that if you do a little bit of footwork, there’s some money out there. You just have to ask questions and bug some people, but (the aid) is there.”
Campbell insists it’s easier to be a student at 39 years old rather than 19.
“I’m more driven than I ever was in school now,” he said. “In high school, I didn’t do the greatest because I didn’t really want to. Now, I have that drive to do good.”
Check out next week’s issue of the Clarion for part two of the series.