South Dakota News Watch - When Alexis Myers tore a knee ligament the second week of practice as a senior high school basketball player in Ethan, South Dakota, it was a low point in her young life. That time away from her teammates was spent with medical professionals who prepared her for knee surgery and helped her recover, exposing Myers to a new vision for her future. One of the physician assistants at Avera Health mentioned the Build Dakota Scholarships, a cooperative effort to fill high-need technical jobs in the state with homegrown vocational talent.
Myers, 21, who was sponsored by Avera to become a certified surgical technologist, earned her degree in two years and is now a surgical tech at Avera Queen of Peace Hospital in Mitchell, South Dakota, working alongside many of the same people who helped treat her knee injury. Kristi Noem, whose goal was to lure skilled workers from out of state to fill 20, open jobs in high-demand occupations such as nursing, plumbing, welding and dentistry.
Build Dakota offers a way to keep things in state with tangible connections between employers and the students who are trained for specific jobs, said First Premier CEO Dana Dykhouse, who chairs the scholarship board. Our focus is on targeting our students at home. The program has helped boost tech school enrollment in the state to an overall head count of 7, in fall , up 7. Cory Clasemann, president of Southeast Technical College, said vocational schools typically have a strong in-state retention rate, but the Build Dakota program elevates that trend by giving students a stake in the process.
The Build Dakota concept took shape in , when Dykhouse spoke at a leadership conference in Memphis, Tennessee. So the framework for Build Dakota took shape, modeled after the Dakota Corps scholarships established by former Gov. Mike Rounds a decade earlier.
Students would have to commit to a three-year work requirement in South Dakota or the money became a loan that they had to pay back. Dennis Daugaard made a similar commitment with state funds. The fund is paid into with unemployment taxes from businesses. Daugaard directed that the money go into an endowment that ensures annual payments through for the Build Dakota Scholarships. It was Deb Shephard, then-president of Lake County Community College, who bluntly told Dykhouse and others that the marketing strategy was flawed.
