Alva Review-Courier -

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — When Robert Tallie moved to Wichita from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, two years ago, he came looking for a new job. It wasn't a blind move. He received a scholarship from WSU Tech and planned to work in the city's prominent aviation industry. The opportunity seemed too good to be true for Tallie, his brother and his mother, who all made the move together.

This year, that opportunity was threatened, though.

Tallie had successfully received his certificate in aerospace coatings and paint from WSU Tech and was hired on at Spirit AeroSystems as a painter. But in January, he was one of 2,800 Spirit workers laid off when production of the 737 Max was halted.

It might seem the easy route for Tallie to quit aviation and move back to Mississippi, where the 29-year-old lived for about a decade before Kansas. Instead, he decided to stay and get an associate's degree in the aviation maintenance technology program at WSU Tech, The Wichita Eagle reports.

While some laid-off aviation workers have sought new career opportunities in different fields, others are sticking with it and preparing for a more secure return to aerospace through WSU Tech classes that let them gain new skills within aviation.

The program, dubbed "Upskill, Reskill, Finish Your Degree," consists of a series of six-to-eight-week courses. The goal is to help workers learn a new skill, add on to their existing skill set or finish their associate of applied science degree. The course options are mostly related to aerospace or advanced manufacturing.

WSU Tech first announced the scholarship opportunity for the program primarily to aid workers laid off in January in relation to the 737 Max grounding. However, it was always open to people laid off for any reason.

The classes began in August, after the pandemic delayed the program from its planned start in late spring. Around 30 students are participating in the courses through the program. Between December and July, about 9,100 people in Wichita lost their jobs through either a layoff or furlough related to the 737 Max production, according to the Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas.

A chance advertisement on Instagram led Tallie's family to Wichita. His brother discovered the Wichita Promise Scholarship at WSU Tech through the social media app. Tallie didn't know anything about Kansas but had struggled to find steady employment in Mississippi.

The scholarship paid for Tallie's moving expenses and those of his family. It also allowed them to stay in a hotel until they found more permanent housing in Wichita. His brother and mother also attended classes at WSU Tech and eventually landed aviation jobs.

Before he heard about the Wichita Promise Scholarship, Tallie hadn't even considered working in aviation. In Mississippi, he was looking at mostly lower-skill jobs, but liked the idea of being able to make his way up in the aviation industry.

After finishing classes and receiving his certificate, he got the job with Spirit. He said the school guaranteed students interviews with various aircraft companies in Wichita at the end of the three-month program. Tallie worked at Spirit just over a year before he was laid off in January.

Tallie is pursuing his associate's degree at WSU Tech through the Wichita Workforce Center, which pairs eligible laid-off workers with the federal Trade Adjustment Assistance program. The benefits cover the cost of tuition and offer income support to help people pay their bills while attending classes.

Elsa McGuire, who was also laid off from her job as a composite mechanic at Spirit in January, decided to take advantage of the TAA benefits and upskill classes at WSU Tech, too.

She worked on the 787 Dreamliner, not the 737 Max, but was still affected by the fallout from the plane's grounding, she said. Employees with more seniority were shifted to different positions. McGuire had worked for Spirit for about eight months at the time.

Like Tallie, she had already received a certificate from WSU Tech that helped her get the job with Spirit in the first place. The classes helped prepare her to work with her hands and perform in a professional environment, she said. That's why she chose to return for an associate's degree after her layoff.

McGuire knows she could have chosen another career path. But she wasn't ready to say goodbye to aviation yet. She had always wanted to work in aerospace — especially for Spirit — and enjoys the physicality of the job.

She hopes that by obtaining a degree, she can receive a higher salary and more varied job opportunities when Spirit is ready to hire workers back again.

The new classes will allow her to take on more advanced work, like aircraft maintenance or electrical assembly, McGuire said. Her prior certificate limited her to just one part of aircraft manufacturing.

For Tallie, heading back to school wasn't a given. He was surprised when he was laid off and thought he might wait for Spirit and Boeing to bounce back, but that was before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

While the arrival of the virus might have pushed some to re-evaluate career steps, Tallie knew he would need new skills in a post-coronavirus economy regardless. He got his start in aviation and decided to stick with it.

For McGuire, returning to WSU Tech was the natural decision.

"I hope to get back to building airplanes soon," she said.