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Ingram State Students Return to Campus

DEATSVILLE, Ala. – After 13 months of COVID-induced safety measures, Ingram State Technical College students returned to campus this week.

Faculty and staff gathered to greet students at three of the College’s eight instructional sites: main campus, Tutwiler instructional service center, and the Alabama Therapeutic Education Facility. “Working with our partners at the Alabama Department of Corrections we’re piloting the return to in-person instruction at these locations in preparation for all students returning later this spring,” said ISTC president Annette Funderburk.

While health and safety measures kept students inside the correctional facilities, Ingram faculty took instruction “to the fences”, in a one-of-a-kind form of distance learning. ISTC Dean of Instruction Dr. William Young explained, “Faculty members reviewed their curriculum, extracted elements that could be adapted to individualized learning and prepared customized packets which were then delivered weekly to students inside the prison.” Young said instructors followed up on the packets by traveling to the correctional facilities several times a week. “Faculty and students would gather at the fence to review the assigned work,” he said. “It certainly couldn’t replace experience students have in the classroom or lab, but it helped keep everyone connected during a difficult time.”

“I am finally able to get hands on training,” said welding student Joseph Martin. Martin is a first semester student in the welding program. He has been participating in class through weekly fence instruction and this is the first time in the ISTC welding lab. “You can’t learn these things in books. I need to have hands on attention to teach me the proper way to weld.”

Funderburk complimented students and faculty, saying “everyone demonstrated remarkable resiliency these past months, and they are ready to take the next step.”

Ingram State Technical College is a fully accredited member of the Alabama Community College System serving incarcerated students exclusively. The College offers training in 20 career and technical programs.