What is the Metallica Scholar Initiative (MSI)?

Metallica Scholars is a major workforce education initiative that provides direct support to community colleges to enhance their career and technical education programs. These programs provide skills and services to students looking to enter a traditional trade or other applied learning program. CGCC entered the MSI program in 2021, and it has been a game-changer for a number of our Tech & Trades students.
Here are a few of their stories:

Trish Linebeck –Construction Technology

Photo: Metallica Scholars with some of their new tools.
Metallica Scholars with some of their new tools.

Trish got a job at CGCC just out of high school, working at The Hook, our campus cafe.

She was planning to take classes, but not sure about which direction to go. She met our lead Construction Technology instructor Glenn Wood in the lunch line and asked about his program. Mr. Wood described the program as professional and focused, requiring a high level of commitment. After careful consideration, Trish applied and was accepted and awarded a Metallica Scholarship. With minimal carpentry experience in her life before CGCC, Trish’s first few weeks were like taking a foreign language, but with tenacity and an uncanny ability to take eloquent and comprehensive notes, she has made slow but steady progress, until one day a few weeks ago... “I saw it happen,” says Mr. Wood. “She was working on a team project with one of our second year students and the light bulb just went on above her head and everything suddenly clicked!”

Trish is known to her classmates and teachers as being a consistent hard worker, always on time and focused on giving her all. The tool set she received as part of her Metallica Scholarship has helped her gain confidence, to come into her own. “Trish is just getting started,” says lead Construction Technology instructor Glenn Wood,  “by the time she completes her program she’s going to be able to do whatever she chooses to do.”

Juliet Ancheta – Construction Technology

Photo: Metallica Scholars super happy with their new tools.
Metallica Scholars super happy with new tools!

Juliet walked into CGCC in 2023 as a shy and quiet teenager who wanted to learn to work with her hands and with hopes of becoming a carpenter. In the first days of the Construction Technology program, students are informed that part of the curriculum is centered around collaborative group work where students would take turns leading projects. Juliet was at first very resistant to the notion of herself as an effective leader, sharing with her classmates that she had difficulty following the lessons and taking notes at the same time. Her class rallied and came up with the idea that she could use her phone to voice memo the class instruction so she could pay full attention in the moment and transcribe the notes later. Juliet’s previous life experience did not offer much positive experience with collaboration, so the open and helpful environment at CGCC has been revelatory for her.  As her confidence has grown, Juliet has begun to voice a passion for engineering, and has recently asked her instructors to put her in touch with CGCC alumni (and fellow Metallica scholar Tristan Stein) who has gone on to open her own engineering business. “As Juliet continues to grow and master the challenges of the program, I will do all I can to help her move toward a career in engineering,” says CGCC Construction Technology lead instructor Glenn Wood.

Austen Piza – Advanced Manufacturing & Fabrication

Photo: One of CGCC’s Metallica Scholars practicing their craft.
One of CGCC’s Metallica Scholars practicing their craft.

Before he enrolled as a CGCC student in 2021, Austen worked in the automotive field, working for various businesses in his hometown of The Dalles, Oregon. Austen’s interest in welding got him a job at CGCC during the construction of the Columbia Gorge Regional Skills Center (the building that houses the program in which he is now enrolled). Austen helped build the welding stations his classmates use every day. Over the course of this project, Austen realized he wanted to up-level his skills and knowledge, and became aware of the Metallica Scholars opportunity. He applied for both, and was accepted as one of the first Metallica Scholars in CGCC’s first Advanced Manufacturing & Fabrication cohort. The tools he received as a Metallica Scholar and the part time job he maintains with the college played major roles in his ability to thrive. Having all the tools allowed Austen to contribute to several regional projects as part of CGCC’s economic development outreach with local businesses: from huge welding projects for the Port of Portland to CAD-designing custom playground equipment for Adventist Health Columbia Gorge, the Metallica Scholarship has allowed Austen to enhance his future with competence and self-confidence. Austen recently accepted a part time job at a local stainless steel welding business, and when he completes his AAS degree this spring, his new employer has promised a pay raise to honor his achievement.