GOLDSBORO — Wayne Community College and Fayetteville Technical Community College (FTCC) have entered a Strategic Regional Partnership, reinforcing their joint efforts to provide educational opportunities to those in their service areas.
A signing event was held at WCC to mark the continued partnership between the colleges in offering Funeral Service Education to students both at WCC and FTCC.
The two schools have had an instructional service agreement for the program since the fall of 2020, allowing students to complete their first two semesters at WCC before finishing the Funeral Service Education program and obtaining their associate degree at FTCC. All classes are offered in person or completely online.
The program provides students with knowledge in basic funeral service skills. Graduates, upon passing the state or national exam and completing an internship in a funeral home, are qualified for employment as embalmers and/or funeral directors.
During the signing ceremony, FTCC President Mark Sorrells acknowledged the importance of helping provide specialized workforce training for rural colleges and communities. “We are grateful for this partnership,” he said. “We’re very excited about these types of partnerships because it shows the collective regional collaboration that we’re interested in and partnering to do to make sure we’re meeting the needs of our business community.”
“Together, we can continue to provide a variety of educational opportunities between our schools, collaborating to prepare our students for a successful career in funeral services,” said WCC President Patty Pfeiffer. “These efforts will strengthen our workforce in this specialized field to meet the needs in both of our communities.”