Weeks Marine Invests in Maritime Program at Louisiana College
Weeks Marine, Inc. visited Northshore Technical Community College (NTCC) in Lacombe, La. on July 18 to announce major contributions, totaling $500,000, to support the college’s maritime training program and scholarship fund.
Richard “Dick” Weeks, Chairman of Weeks Marine, travelled from the company’s headquarters in Cranford, N.J. to view progress on the construction of NTCC’s second building at the Lacombe Campus. A longtime supporter of higher education and workforce training, Mr. Weeks took the opportunity to announce a personal contribution of $250,000 to support local maritime efforts and to secure state-of-the-art training equipment for students. Also in attendance were members of Weeks Marine’s senior leadership team, Richard S. Weeks (CEO), Eric Ellefsen (President), and Patrick Whelan (Executive Vice President), who then announced a corporate match of $250,000 to establish a scholarship endowment in perpetuity to support students seeking maritime-related career fields.
“Northshore Technical Community College is humbled by the generosity of Mr. Weeks and Weeks Marine for making this investment in our community and students,” said NTCC Chancellor William Wainwright.
This is the second donation Weeks Marine has made as a business partner to Northshore Technical Community College, for a total investment of $750,000 since 2016.
“Having a state-of-the-art maritime simulation laboratory will allow NTCC to expand its program offerings and provide high-tech, relevant training experiences for the entire northshore region,” said Randy Savoie, Lead Maritime Instructor. “NTCC and Weeks Marine have strategically formed a partnership to advance maritime education in Louisiana in efforts to sustain long-term economic benefits, creating direct employment opportunities to fulfill the increasing maritime workforce gap.”
With the most recent Weeks’ donation, NTCC will continue to uphold its stewardship responsibility by creating student-accessible resources, as demonstrated by the management of Mr. Weeks’ earlier contribution that procured unique advanced outdoor classrooms utilized by K-12, postsecondary, and workforce educators along with the establishment of the first Richard Weeks Two-Year Workforce Scholarship Endowment.
Since 2015, Weeks Marine has served on the NTCC Maritime Consortium, guiding and building the maritime program curricula to ensure that graduating students are well-equipped to meet the needs of the maritime industry. In addition to curricula counsel, programmatic support, and the hiring of graduates, Weeks Marine engages with NTCC students throughout the year by hosting career prep “lunch and learns” and by creating student internship opportunities.
“Actively engaged partners like Weeks Marine dynamically refocuses education programs from the theoretical to the practical, providing mentorship, hands-on training and applicable work experiences that are critical to student success” said Wainwright.