Today at Fiber Connect 2022 in Nashville, the Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) presented its inaugural Gene Scott Education Award to Greenlight Community Broadband of Wilson, North Carolina. FBA said the new award "recognizes a person, community, or institution that has significantly impacted the advancement of education in the fiber industry."
As further stated by an FBA presss release:
Gene Scott was a long-time community broadband advocate and a friend of the fiber broadband industry. Gene passed away in February 2022. He served as Chairman of the Fiber Broadband Association’s Education Subcommittee and was instrumental in the development of the Association’s Optical Telecom Installation Certification Path (OpTIC Path) training program, formally launched this year.
First @fiberbroadband Gene Scott award at #fc22 pic.twitter.com/0n6mwjuQ8R
— Doug Mohney (@DougonIPComm) June 14, 2022
First @fiberbroadband Gene Scott award at #fc22 pic.twitter.com/0n6mwjuQ8R
— Doug Mohney (@DougonIPComm) June 14, 2022Greenlight Community Broadband is a community-owned fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) provider in Wilson, N.C. Since its founding, the service provider said its priority has been "to provide comprehensive broadband connections to support local economic health, enhance citizens’ lives, and improve the delivery of city services."
“Greenlight fostered and supported Gene’s ongoing efforts to build workforce training programs, working with Wilson Community College in North Carolina to create an affordable fiber technician training course,” explained Mark Boxer, technical manager, solutions and applications engineering, at OFS, and a board member of FBA.
Boxer continued, “This effort charted the way for the Fiber Broadband Association’s OpTIC Path certification course to launch this year - a program that will provide specially trained fiber-optic technicians to the industry and help service providers meet the historic broadband demands created by billions of dollars in federal funding.”
“Greenlight and the city of Wilson were very special to Gene. It’s our responsibility and honor to carry on his work in our community and in workforce training for the growing needs of the fiber industry,” commented Will Aycock, general manager at Greenlight Community Broadband, who added, “We recently concluded the pilot OpTIC Path course at Wilson Community College with great success and enthusiasm from the trainees. We look forward to continuing this course here and helping other communities replicate its success.”