Program to bring job skills to students across Peninsula

Published 1:30 am Saturday, August 1, 2026

PORT ANGELES — There was no satin ribbon-cutting at Peninsula College on Thursday to celebrate the launch of its new mobile workforce training program.

Instead, President Suzy Ames took a pair of metal shears to a 10-foot steel “ribbon” — created for the occasion by welding instructors Eoin Doherty and Kelly Flanagan.

The reason for the ceremony was parked behind her: a 53-foot-long trailer outfitted with eight welding booths that will bring job training across the North Olympic Peninsula.

The event drew college trustees, local officials, business and community leaders and congressional and legislative staff.

The trailer — the first of two the college has acquired— and two smaller mobile classrooms are central elements of the Mobile Workforce Program, which is intended to close the distance between students and the job-ready skills they need.

“We believe we’re the first ones in the country to offer mobile training like this,” Ames said.

The program’s $6.9 million budget came from Recompete Washington, a $36.5 million initiative funded through the U.S. Economic Development Administration. An additional $4.2 million from the U.S. Department of Commerce was awarded to the Clallam Economic Development Council as part of the initiative’s job creation and industrial revitalization plan.

The Mobile Workforce Program’s initial focus is on marine manufacturing and natural resources — fields Ames called “core to who we are” on the North Olympic Peninsula.

The first trailer, which cost $733,303, was delivered about three weeks ago and is equipped with fully-functional welding booths identical to those on campus.

It is paired with a 30 foot-long companion mobile classroom that seats nine students and cost $86,532.

A second 53 foot-long “flex” trailer that can be reconfigured for construction or other trades will be delivered later this month. It cost $153,739, including the generator and air compressor, but not the instructional equipment used in teaching

The school plans on purchasing a second mobile classroom that seats 15 students for around $115,000 to accompany the flex trailer.

The flex trailer’s first assignment will be as a hands-on workshop for the college’s new marine technology program covering outboard engine repair, marine electronics, rigging and boat safety.

Welding classes have long been a staple at the college’s main campus in Port Angeles, but attending them was a challenge for students living in Forks, Clallam Bay, Neah Bay and Port Townsend.

The mobile units change that.

“This isn’t a demonstration trailer or a mobile exhibit,” said Brian Kneidl, dean of skilled trades and mobile workforce programs. “It’s a real Peninsula College classroom.”

Students will learn on the same equipment, complete the same coursework and earn the same credits as they would in a class on campus.

The trailer’s 160,000-kilowatt generator is powerful enough to run all eight welding booths at the same time.

The college is also providing loaner equipment — hoods, jackets, gloves, pliers and grinders — so students won’t have to make a large investment.

The college has contracted with Puget Sound Transfer to haul the big trailers rather than buying its own semis, but it did purchase a Ford F-450 pickup truck to pull the smaller ones.

Cost decisions point to a central aim of the grant, Kneidl said: to learn what mobile training costs and where the college can find savings so the program can be sustained after Recompete funding ends.

The first offering is a four-week, community-education aluminum welding class at Port Townsend Boat Haven that starts Aug. 8.

After it ends, the mobile welding rig and its classroom travel to Forks for the academic year, while the flex trailer heads to Port Townsend.

The plan is for the programs to rotate each year, bringing welding to Jefferson County and marine technology to the West End beginning in 2027-28.

Kneidl acknowledged that the brand-new, shiny black “Peninsula College On the Move” trailer — spotless inside and out — won’t stay that way for long.

Some grime, though, would be one sign of the program’s success.

“Welding,” Kneidl said, “is a dirty business.”

Information about Peninsula College’s community education aluminum welding class in Port Townsend can be found at https://tinyurl.com/yc8es5fv

To learn about earning a degree or certificate in welding at Peninsula College, go to https://tinyurl.com/mtjh99np/.

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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.