GROUP BRINGS EDUCATION, BUSINESS TOGETHER

PERRYVILLE -- A partnership between local business and industry and leaders and educators is being explored through an Education and Industry Regional Task Force here.

Goals of the task force were outlined recently during a meeting at Perryville, hosted by TG(USA) and chaired by Glenn Graham, vice president of the General Division of TG(USA), and president-elect of the Perryville Chamber of Commerce.

Graham was one of five business and industry leaders who served as a panelists during a special Education-Business/Industry Summit hosted on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University earlier this fall.

The summit meeting was sponsored the university and Eighth District U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson and was designed to forge ties between education and business/industry leaders.

The community program proposed for Perryville, said Graham, is a direct outgrowth of the university summit.

The community program, designed to educate students and better prepare them for careers awaiting them in the business/industry world, was described at a luncheon at TG(USA) with the announcement of the development of an Education and Industry Regional Task Force.

Kala M. Stroup, president of Southeast Missouri State University presented the keynote address during the Perryville meeting.

"I applaud TG(USA) and the people of Perryville for this effort," Stroup said. "The University certainly offers its support for this worthwhile endeavor. We hope this program develops into an excellent model which can be replicated in other Southeast Missouri communities."

The purpose of the Education and Industry Regional Task Force is to improve the education level of young people entering the work force by improving their math, communication and problem-solving skills, said Graham. The task force also is designed to help students, parents, teachers and others better understand free enterprise and its benefits, to help motivate students to succeed in school and in the work place, and to develop a greater sense of community pride.

Kunihiko Nakashima, president of TG(USA) said the company is launching this program as a responsible corporate citizen in thanks for the cooperation it has received in the Perryville community.

"I believe very strongly that one of the ways that we can support the community is to support education," Nakashima said. "Business must support education in their effort to develop future members of the community and participants of economic development. Everyone can benefit from improved economic conditions resulting from a more capable work force."

He said employees must understand the importance of customer satisfaction and that bottom up management with empowered employees is becoming important.

This new program "is not intended to be a TG(USA) project but rather a community project we support," he said. "To make this project work will take the involvement of the community in planning and development as well as execution."

TG(USA) is a high-quality producer of plastic and urethane products for the automotive industry.

Nakashima said that by getting business/industry and education to work together, a channel of experience and knowledge will be formed.