Ivanka Trump, Mike Pompeo promote president's job opportunity initiative in Kansas
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Ivanka Trump, President Trump's daughter and senior adviser, got a firsthand look at the WSU Tech National Center for Aviation Training in Wichita, Kansas, on Thursday as they promoted the president's "Pledge to America's Workers."
"This isn’t some big government program. This is private sector innovation and private sector desire to succeed," Trump said during a workforce policy roundtable following the tour.
Trump practiced riveting during a tour of the technical college's sheet metal lab.
"It's not so easy!" she told the student who demonstrated for her. "Mine looks materially less beautiful than yours."
The student said he was pursuing job skills after coming back from a deployment in Syria as a member of the Kansas Army National Guard.
Pompeo, a former Kansas congressman, and Trump are promoting the "Pledge to America's Workers" that encourages businesses and groups to create new opportunities for workers including apprenticeships, continuing education, on-the-job-training and retraining.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at the U.S. State Department in Washington, April 4, 2019. | White House adviser Ivanka Trump speaks in Washington, Oct. 18, 2019. (AP)
"The most important people in this room are the students ... The president campaigned on rebuilding the American dream and making it attainable and accessible to all … The No. 1 challenge of employers is a skilled workforce. Well, that's a good problem to have because it's forcing employers to get creative," Trump said during the roundtable.
WSU Tech President Sheree Utash was also at the roundtable.
"It is an honor to host Secretary Mike Pompeo and Advisor Ivanka Trump at WSU Tech's National Center for Aviation Training to showcase how Wichita, the Air Capital of the World, is aligning career technical education to meet business and industry needs," Utash said in a statement, according to KSN.com.
"We are excited to have students witness local aviation and manufacturing companies sign the Pledge to America's Workers to commit to new or enhanced career and job training opportunities for American workers," Utash continued.
WSU Tech has several aviation industry partners, including Wichita-based Spirit AeroSystems, which guarantees job interviews for WSU Tech graduates in Sheet Metal Assembly.
Trump has focused on the importance of increasing jobs in America since her father entered the White House. She and Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced earlier this month a new jobs initiative that is expected to create 250,000 IT-training opportunities.
"For many decades we've been told that there's one path A in America, and that's 4 year university, and that path is not available to every American and that path is not right for every American," she said. "So, while I would never denigrate our university ecosystem, it's the best in the world, we need to celebrate the multiple pathways it exists in America for success. And in this booming economy there are so many."
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FOX Business' Julia Limitone, Suzanne O’Halloran and Angelica Stabile contributed to this report.