ALFRED, Maine (NEWS CENTER) - The New England School of Metalwork in Auburn is taking it's classroom on the road.
An instructor is travelling around the state in a tractor trailer to attract students and get them interested in the field of Welding.
This week the mobile classroom is in Alfred, outside the York County Jail. Instructor Jon Gradie is teaching some inmates how to weld.
"I think they're hungry to do something, to learn something. Everybody is not made to go to college. I think everyone should learn a trade before doing anything in life because you can always go back to your trade a make a living", he said.
The goal of this program is to eventually help the students land a job. If they do they're likely to stay out of jail and that's a burden lifted off the county.
"If we teach them a a trade and one of these individuals goes back out into the general area and gets a job and becomes gainfully employed and pays taxes, that's a big savings for all the taxpayers", said Sheriff Mo Ouellette.
The program is paid for by the inmates. The money they spend on phone calls and at the canteen goes into an inmate fund that used for programs that help them better themselves.
NEWS CENTER