Installing the future: fiber optics program readies students for lucrative jobs

The Somerset County Technical School (SCTI) in New Jersey began offering a fiber optics program for both vocational and college students in 1992. The program is a business-education partnership between SCTI, AT&T and the electricians' union Local 358. SCTI believes that the demand for fiber optic installations will grow exponentially in the late 1990s. It plans to expand facilities to accommodate more students and to be able to offer daytime classes. The night classes of the present program is so much in demand that it has 200 people on the waiting list.