The Floor Covering Education Foundation (FCEF) website reads, “It’s time to step up.” This call to action encourages anyone anywhere to support the organization and its efforts to help remedy the installation shortage. However, over the course of the 10-week Basic Floor Covering Installation Program, taking place at Georgia Northwestern Technical College, the students were the ones who stepped up.
Starting in January, I traveled to Dalton, Georgia to cover the classes. Each week I took photos and video footage of the students working with various materials and tools to catalogue the event. I’m not sure what I expected of the students, but I was surprised to learn that one student had attended hair dressing school and learned it was not for him. Another traveled all the way from Ohio to take the class. One had served his country and decided a career in flooring was for him. Regardless of their backgrounds or reasons for signing up, they were there, and they were committed.