One of the Midcoast’s largest employers is expanding training for hopeful shipbuilders to Central Maine Community College, leading to hires of recent graduates.

The Southern Maine Community College’s free, three-week manufacturing technician training course is now being offered at CMCC after BIW partnered with CMCC last summer, graduating 29 students from its program this year. Around 22 recent CMCC graduates have received job offers from Bath Iron Works. One session started on March 2, and the next begins March 23, according to BIW.

The SMCC and BIW partnership will launch its 100th SMCC class this month as shipbuilding ramps up.

“The free training program has proven itself to be extremely effective at giving people the foundational skills they need to take on challenging and rewarding careers in shipbuilding,” said Tom Stevens, BIW’s director of training. “It’s great to see it expand to another part of the state so people in Central Maine can more easily access this opportunity.”

BIW pays a $500 per week stipend after graduation from the program to help offset living expenses while students attend classes full time, said recent manufacturing technician training program graduate Joshua Grant, 19, of Auburn.The manufacturing technician training program covers topics including shop and workplace safety, technical math and measurement, blueprint reading, and plasma cutting.

“I have been in the yard since December, and I am still learning new things every day,” Grant said. “It was definitely helpful for me to understand that basic knowledge before coming here, to me anyway.”

Grant attended the training program last fall and now works as a pipe fitter at the shipyard.

Recent graduates will work on the construction of BIW’s Arleigh Burke–class destroyers, including the future USS Patrick Gallagher, Louis H. Wilson Jr., William Charette, Quentin Walsh, John E. Kilmer, Richard G. Lugar and J. William Middendorf.

“I think it’s a great step to see if you want to apply yourself in the trades,” Grant said.