The former students of the Retail Ready Career Center in Garland spent Thursday morning checking out of their hotel rooms and preparing to head home.
Hundreds of students, most of them veterans, were left wondering what's next Wednesday after their vocational school abruptly closed its doors.
“Some of us are driving home. Some of us are getting on planes,” said Tony Larson, of Kalamazoo, Michigan. “Right now we’re just trying to figure out what we’re doing next.”
After hearing about the story, a national construction trade group is stepping up to help the veterans continue their training closer to home.
“We’re going to find a way to help them,” said Tony Rader, of Dallas, an Executive Board member of the Associated Builders and Contractors.
The trade group has affiliated training centers across the country.
“We have training centers in Michigan. We have one in Florida and California and Texas,” said Rader. “So, let’s get them closer there to their families and make that cost down to nothing almost for them to go to get trained and go to work."
The association is now working out the details and staying in touch with the veterans.
“We’re very excited about the response and how quick it was,” said Larson. “I know a lot of us, it helped eliminate some of the fears that we were having. Some of us, you know, it’s a little bit brighter than it was."
“It’s definitely a way that we can look forward to at least knowing there is a route and we don’t have to go back and start from scratch," said Patrick Thompson, of Flynt, Michigan.
The former students are now consulting an attorney about the legal options regarding the sudden closing of Retail Ready Career Center.
