Louisiana Commissioner of Higher Education Kim Hunter Reed visited Lake Charles on Monday as part of her “Focus on First Generation Students” tour at McNeese State University and hosted a “listening and learning” Stakeholder Engagement Luncheon at Sowela Technical Community College.

Reed is visiting Southwest Louisiana for the second time since her appointment as Commissioner in April and said her visits are purposeful because “You can’t do great policy work from Baton Rouge. You have to walk the campuses.”

Oct. 1 was Louisiana’s “First Generation Day” and Reed felt there was no better place to begin the celebration than a university with a president who is a first generation college student. Twenty seven percent of McNeese’s student body are first generation students and speaking from experience, President Daryl Burckel said often the struggle for first generation students is the fear that comes from “not knowing what’s around the corner” in a university setting.

The mission of all McNeese’s faculty and staff is to create an environment that “takes some of the curves out of the way to help you see where you’re going,” said Burckel.

The university celebrated “First Generation Day” by hosting a student services breakfast expo featuring information on campus amenities like mental health counseling and tutoring especially catered for McNeese’s current first-generation students.

At Sowela, Reed met with local dignitaries, business leaders and academic leaders in a forum style session to take pulse on the work needed to be done in workforce development. She applauded the progress of Sowela saying the college has grown from the “sleepy place” of yesteryear to a developmental “power house.”

Reed accredited Sowela’s growth to the “nimble and responsive” nature of a community college because it is able to more easily tailor programs especifically for industry needs.

During the forum session, conversation arose about the state’s “skilled labor gap.”

While Reed acknowledged the presence of such a gap across the country, she urged leaders to actively “close the conversation gap.” In order to continue to grow Southwest Louisiana, she said K-12 leaders and business members must to work “blur the lines” of work force development by providing training and career education long before high school graduation. “We have to send a clear message…We have to talk about honoring all pathways.”