Members of the Pearl River County Home Builders Association donated $2,650 to Pearl River Community College on Wednesday in an effort to promote the school’s career and technical programs.

The money will be used for a full-tuition, one-year scholarship, which will be given to a select student involved in the school’s career and technical program. For the past several years, the association has supported PRCC’s construction-related programs and is recently helping form a student chapter of the association at PRCC, said Dr. Ed Pinero, PRCC career-technical director.

“We’re very excited about starting the [student chapter] program at the college. It’s going to be a great opportunity for the students. They’re going to get a lot of additional information and knowledge because of being part of this club,” Pinero said.

Association member Mark Wallace added, “This [chapter] will mainly be to bring together the students that participate in the Skills USA competition and have them meet with the homebuilders to mentor them and take them to job sites to get them connected to the job force.”

Students have the option to choose from many construction-related programs at PRCC including electrical technology, drafting and design technology, heating and air conditioning and masonry, Wallace said.

One of the association’s main goals is to assist PRCC with traveling expenses incurred when students compete in the state and national Skills USA competition. In order to raise money, the association is sponsoring a five-gun raffle for $10 a ticket, which will be drawn on March 4 at Davis Sports and Outdoor in Picayune.

Wallace said it’s essential to instill interest in today’s youth on the career and technical options available, saying that there’s a misconception about the success of manual workers.

“We don’t have a lot of young folks that are out there in the industry…framers and contractors are making just as much as attorneys or more,” Wallace said.

Other members in attendance Wednesday were association board members Charles Lee and Glen Rayburn, director of the PRCC Development Foundation Ernie Lovell, association secretary Scott White, PRCC vice president for workforce and economic development Dr. Scott Alsobrooks, association board member Debbie Sharff, association executive director Judy Lassere, association member Byron Hill, PRCC drafting instructor Jesse Walker, PRCC vice president for Poplarville campus and Hancock Center Dr. Adam Breerwood and PRCC drafting instructor Rodney Clark.