Lincoln Tech in Marietta Georgia’s Response to COVID-19

Bob Martin: Joining us today on this edition of Imagine America Radio is Brian Capozzi, campus president, Lincoln Tech in Marietta, Georgia. Today’s topics of today’s episode of Imagine America Radio is the coronavirus epidemic and how Lincoln Tech in Marietta, Georgia, has responded to the current crisis in helping to provide services and assistance to employees and current students. Brian—first, may I call you Brian?

Brian Capozzi: Yes, sir.

Bob: Hey, and welcome to today’s edition of Imagine America Radio. If you wouldn’t mind just very briefly outlining how your campus has adapted to this whole coronavirus pandemic.

Brian: Absolutely. Well first, gentlemen, thanks for having me today. As a nontraditional hands-on training school, this has certainly been a change for a lot of us in the industry. So, for us, to be quite honest with you, I couldn’t be more proud of our students, my faculty and staff, and just how quickly we have adapted to this change.

As of today, we are completely 100% remote for our students, our faculties, and our staff. And again, as a nontraditional college that focuses on hands-on training, it’s definitely been a bit of transition for all of us. But I couldn’t be more proud of how quickly our students adapted, our instructors, and just the different resources they’re using to engage our students, to continue to their education experience, and it’s just remarkable how resilient we can all be in a time of crisis like this. So just super proud of their commitment to their education and Lincoln Tech, but moving to an online platform in just a short amount of time has been an amazing feat and surprisingly very smooth. And our students are super excited about what they’re doing right now, very engaged with us, and the conversations are nonstop. Certainly a few more phone calls and emails than normal, but it’s certainly an exciting time for us. We’re certainly making it work.

Lee Doubleday: Yeah Brian, this is Lee, and I’m interviewing Brian Capozzi, campus president of Lincoln Tech in Marietta, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta. Brian, congratulations on what it is that your campus—and Lincoln Tech as an organization—has done to accommodate this pandemic in such a short amount of time. We talk to campuses all over the country, and it just seems as though Lincoln Tech has been able to adapt to this and move this along very quickly. So I really would like to congratulate you and your campus and Lincoln Tech on their efforts.

Brian: Thank you, Lee.

Lee: Yeah. And this is sort of a follow-up question to that—is that I know you’re teaching online now, and my question for you is, are you still open for tours? Or is there a website or somewhere where students can go to learn more about your campus if you’re not open for physical tours?

Brian: Sure. So obviously, in the safety for everyone in our community, we’re not open for tours today, but we have moved to what we call a virtual tour. So in that tour, you get to see a good glimpse of our campus, and all of our campuses are slightly different, but within those tours you’ll get to see some of our classrooms. You’ll get to see some of the equipment that you’ll work on. You’ll get to see some of the smiling faces around Lincoln Tech – Marietta. You’ll get to see some of my students, some of my graduates. So you get a good sample of what the day-to-day life looks like. Even though it’s not in person today, I think it’s still a very great representation of what our schools (and most of our schools) look like on a daily basis, if you happen just to pop on in and come check us out—if you didn’t know what Lincoln Tech did before and you want to learn a little bit more.

We’ve, again, moved to that online or virtual format that’s kind of giving our students a glimpse of what the day in the life of a Lincoln Tech student’s going to look like. So the best way to get that set up is certainly just give us a call. One of our admissions reps would be certainly happy to kind of walk you through what that looks like, explain our programs, and, of course, share with you our little virtual tour about what to expect for any of the programs that we might offer.

Lee: Yeah. Good. And so okay, so you answered my question. I was going to ask you how a potential student may go about learning more about the virtual tour, but I think you’ve answered it—it’s contact you directly off of your website.

Now, here’s another question for you. Are you still enrolling for future class starts? Were any class starts in the future affected in any way by this COVID-19 pandemic?

Brian: We are. So ironically enough, our March students had started just about the time this all came out, so our March students have started with us successfully. They’ve kind of transitioned into this online format with us very successfully. They’re all doing very well and super excited to have them on campus—well, not on campus but online with us—so they’re all doing really well. We have another start coming up here in just another week, for the end of April, and we are on schedule for all of our May starts, which include HVAC, electrical, and medical assisting. So, yes, all of our classes are still planning to start in the near future here.

Lee: Okay, Brian, so you’re still enrolling new students. Now, what will happen if this pandemic is still going on by the time the next class rolls around? Will students just begin their learning online?

Brian: Yes. So, depending on state and federal orders and in terms of what that all looks like, we’re obviously all hoping to get back on campus as soon as possible. I know my current students are super excited to get back. I know my faculty and staff are excited to get back, and I can’t wait to get back! So, in the meantime, until we know more about dates and timelines, we’ll certainly begin starting those students in an online format with the expectation of getting them back on campus as soon as we possibly can.

Lee: Okay. And speaking of your staff, are your current student services still available for students (i.e., admissions, financial aid, career services, etc.)? Is that still available for current students or any future students as well?

Brian: Oh, absolutely. Our admissions is still available the same hours that we’ve always been. We haven’t really modified any of our hours for any of our current students—or future students, for that matter—so whether it be admissions or financial aid, they’re all here to help walk you through that process. Although it may look a little bit different today, the steps are still identical to what they’ve always been. So, we’re very familiar with those and we can easily help students and parents walk through that process. We are equipped and ready to help those folks.

Our education team—obviously, that’s where the bulk of our process happens, so they’re certainly online. We’re still running our day and evening classes, and our instructors and my admin staff for education are available throughout the day (just as we have been when students are on campus) and career services, the same situation. Again, even though we may not be able to do a face-to-face interview with you, we’ve become very good at virtual interviews, which is the new norm when it comes to hiring these days.

Every evening, my director of career services is hosting a Zoom meeting to help our students get comfortable with virtual interviews, which a lot of our employers are expecting and requiring these days. She’s available for online interviews and making sure that you’re equipped, and she’s obviously doing Zoom videos and different formats with students to make sure they’re comfortable with getting in front of folks in an online format. I know I could probably use a little practice there, as well, because it’s been a minute since I’ve done something like that, but we are certainly there to help those students all the way from the admissions process through placement, so nothing has changed for us at all.

Bob: We’re talking to Brian Capozzi, campus president Lincoln Tech – Marietta, Georgia, just outside Atlanta. This whole coronavirus pandemic has thrown everything up into turmoil, and you have a very robust high school program and outreach to workforce boards and VA boards. What do you do with these—what do you do with guidance counselors and these people that don’t have those resources available to them, or potential students that want to know more about Lincoln and want to know more about your particular campus and your particular programs? Can you give us website addresses, emails, campus phone numbers, that sort of thing?

Brian: Oh, absolutely. So whether it’s a high school student or a guidance counselor that’s not familiar with Lincoln Tech and the programs that we might offer, we would love the opportunity to kind of share with them what we do.

Today, it’s going to be more a virtual explanation, but nonetheless I think we can give folks a very clear understanding in terms of the programs that we offer and what we expect from a student from start to graduation, so I think that’s really important.

Today, the best way to get in touch with us is to go to our website, lincolntech.edu, or call us here locally at (770) 226-0056. Myself, Brian Capozzi, the campus president, or my director of admissions, Diane Walker—we’re here to help in any way that we can and would love to talk to any guidance counselor that has questions, or if we can help guide a student towards a program of interest that would be beneficial for them. We are certainly here to help and just look up Lincoln Tech; you’ll find us. You’ll find Marietta, Georgia, and Atlanta, Georgia. Just all of our contact information’s right there, and some smiling voice will pick up the phone and guide you in the right direction.

Bob: Great. Really appreciate it. We’re talking to Brian Capozzi, campus president, Lincoln Tech – Marietta, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta. Here are my takeaways that I’ve got. Brian, correct me if I’m wrong or add to them.

Lincoln Tech in Marietta, Georgia, is open for business and is assisting all current students and all current employees. You may be doing it in a little bit different fashion—well, you are doing it in a little bit different fashion—but nonetheless, you’re there and available to help them if they need help.

Second, I hear Lincoln Tech in Marietta, Georgia, is enrolling new students—and potential students can go to the Lincoln Tech website, get updated information, and you’ve already given us www.lincolntech.edu.

Finally, for any students (I’m going to ask, if you don’t mind) if you wouldn’t mind repeating one more time your personal information, beginning with your email address, for any questions that might come up. People hear this podcast, they say, “Oh, geez. How do I get ahold of them?” If you wouldn’t mind just giving us your email address.

Brian: Absolutely. So, again, it’s Brian Capozzi and my email address is bcapozzi@lincolntech.edu.

Bob: Thank you, Brian. We really appreciate your time. We want to thank you for joining us today.

Joining us today was Brian Capozzi, campus president, Lincoln Tech – Marietta, Georgia, just outside Atlanta. We want to thank today’s podcast audience for taking time out of their very busy, hectic schedules to listen to this episode of Imagine America Radio. To avoid missing any future episodes, go to Spotify or Apple and click on the Imagine America Radio logo.

On behalf of my colleague, Lee Doubleday, and myself, please be safe and we’ll be talking to you all very soon. Goodbye.