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The newly appointed president of the Northwest College of Construction (NWCOC) has officially held the position for only a few months, but she is already tackling some lofty challenges.

Laurie Emery led the school with an interim tag for nearly a year before it was removed in April. She joined the NWCOC in 2007, starting as an administrative assistant and eventually gaining dual roles as director of human resources and director of operations.

For the time being, Emery’s main task is to keep the school’s programming running through the COVID-19 crisis, which has forced the NWCOC to adopt a new way of delivering curriculum.

鈥淟ike everyone else, we were surprised by how quickly we went from normal operations to sending all the staff to work from home and canceling classes,鈥� she said.

Administrators closed the Northeast Portland campus in mid-March, but managed to get online classes up and running within two weeks. That was 鈥渘o small feat,鈥� Emery said.

The dramatic shift in operational methods has presented obstacles but overall is going smoothly, Emery said. Hands-on training has resumed on a smaller scale with social distancing guidelines in place; apprentices are set to complete their coursework for the spring term this summer.

With job fairs and high school visits canceled, recruiting efforts have gone virtual. Online informational sessions are drawing about as many prospective students as in-person ones, and the school has created a virtual tour of the building to showcase the different labs used for craft education.

The college’s shift to remote learning was done in haste, but the online coursework has drawn interest 鈥� and requests are being for NWCOC to create customized training courses. The school is weighing whether to continue with a hybrid (online and in-person) format in the upcoming fall term and beyond.

鈥淲e have talked for years about doing some kind of online training, but it seemed like too much and so we never pursued it,鈥� Emery said. 鈥�(The pandemic) kind of forced our hand, but it’s not a bad thing.鈥�

Moving forward, one of Emery’s long-term goals is to focus on retention of apprentices. Attrition is an issue in all apprenticeship programs, she said, and it’s vital to provide support for apprentices who are facing obstacles that might derail their training.

One of the most important things for apprentices to understand, Emery said, is that their apprenticeship coordinator is their advocate. She wants to ensure that the college’s staff spends time developing relationships with students so that when there is a hardship, they will feel comfortable reaching out for help and utilizing resources available to them 鈥� whether for child care, transportation or other issues.

鈥淚t’s not just about getting (apprentices) in the door, but it’s about keeping them through graduation,鈥� Emery said. 鈥淚 want them to be able to see that four years is going to go by no matter what, and even though there might be hardships along the way, where do you want to be in four years? I want our students to be able to reach that goal and succeed.鈥�